Western automotive and green energy executives who visit China are returning humbled — and even terrified.

As The Telegraph reports, the executives are warning that the country's heavily automated manufacturing industry could quickly leave Western nations behind, especially when it comes to electric vehicles.

"We are in a global competition with China, and it's not just EVs," Ford CEO Jim Farley told The Verge last month. "And if we lose this, we do not have a future at Ford."