The Riverside, Mo., plant’s operator is controlled by China’s No. 1 auto maker, but the factory doesn’t build cars. Its about 200 workers assemble door handles, center consoles and other parts that ship to a nearby General Motors Co. GM 0.35 % factory, which fits them into Chevrolet Malibu sedans. Beijing’s industrial planners have identified car-parts plants like this as a vehicle into the world’s auto markets. By first learning to make and sell car parts in markets like the U.S., leaders in China’s auto industry say, companies can then use the lessons to move on to selling cars overseas. “By running factories there and hiring local people” in the U.S., says Dong Yang, a vice president of the government-backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, “it will pave the […]