China actually has export controls to protect the rest of the world from its bad products. Like you say, it must have a Chinese brand otherwise it's either a fake or illegally obtained (out the back door of the factory).
Ah, this is actually formalized? My intuition says that Chinese brands would know how to police through the appropriate channels, but it's not surprising it's an actually an official thing.
What I can't really figure out is how to reliably get the "better" unbranded parts (small quantities, using ebay/aliexpress). The only indicator seems to be how consumer-targeted the particular item is. Electronic components / assemblies have been fine, while 4 out of 4 phone chargers I tested were pure garbage.
Obviously creating a relationship with a manufacturer is the way to go for larger batches, which is another reason buying from a US importer makes sense. Then again I've got to wonder when I see the same-looking unbranded items in US retail stores, if those ones actually meet their ratings or if the type of people buying them will never verify.
