Yes... China is about as unregulated w.r.t. to industry as you can get. Have you ever seen the air quality in Beijing? Do you remember the air quality in LA in the 80s before stricter CARB standards? (Or are you too young to?)
Regardless, the state is no friend to the environment.
And as I said to the other commenter, I don't think it's reasonable to hold up China, a huge and corrupt state with no meaningful rights to expression, as an example of innovation sans government.