My understanding is that China recognized the potential of solar power around 20 years ago and decided they wanted to be the world's manufacturing hub for solar

My understanding is that China recognized the potential of solar power around 20 years ago and decided they wanted to be the world's manufacturing hub for solar panels. The government invested in R&D early, and today we are reaping the fruits of that investment. The same thing is happening now with storage, but western governments are weary of losing that battle as well. To address this massive tariffs were put in place by the previous US administration, and are likely to be increased by the current administration. Hopefully this doesn't slow down the production of batteries, but instead just moves the production out of China and into other countries, but that remains to be seen.