"A year ago Premier Li Keqiang went on national television and bemoaned the failure of his country to produce a good quality version of this seemingly-simple implement.
Locally-made versions felt "rough" compared to those from Germany, Switzerland and Japan, Mr Li complained."
>https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2016/01/26/china-ca...
> Premier Li Keqiang recently made a shocking revelation about the industrial capabilities of China on national television: despite the fact that the country is widely known as the “world’s factory” and produces everything from iPhones, aircraft carriers, high-speed railways to spacecraft. Until now there is not a single manufacturer in China that is able to produce the tiny rotating ball fitted to the tip of a ball pen that disperses ink as you write.
> Each of these tiny metal balls has to be imported by Chinese pen manufacturers from overseas suppliers.
I assume the 90% figure was rounded up to "all of them", potentially by Li Keqiang himself, who was probably not interested in low-quality ballpoint pens that could be made without high-precision manufacturing equipment.
It's not entirely unbelievable that they couldn't do this to a sufficient standard at all. I'm just saying it's more believable that they could, but couldn't do it to an excellent standard.