As far as "IP" is concerned, for one thing, a US patent only lasts 20 years from date of filing. And, you'd need to file another application in China. And, if granted, then you'd have to go after anyone you think is infringing .... in Chinese courts. There are other kinds of IP of course, but folks often think of patents first.
One problem with projects with long development times, and I was involved in one, you file some early patent applications and then it takes 15 years to bring it to market, so you only get five years exclusivity anyway. You can prolong this a bit with further patents (selection inventions) but they are necessarily more narrow.