here is a slightly earlier article saying they were unable to manufacture them entirely:

>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.