Looking back at this after the Huawei scandal, it seems very likely it was a preliminary step to create a negative impression regarding Chinese manufacturing. Bloomberg could have been lied to, or been chosen to deliver false stories for propaganda. Of course it could be irrelevant (there were tensions regardless) but given how everything looks weird, it probably wasn't.

Because no matter what the audits say, this article caused a widespread feeling of mistrust towards Chinese-manufactured electronics.