If all China was doing was investing in it's own industries and sponsoring them, it would be very different from it's current policy of actually locking out competitors who dont have a local presence and such. There is a steep difference between positive economic assistance and negative legal barriers.

Without a local presence, how can the business be hold responsible if there's misdeed? US senators may even want to deny Huawei compensation for patent infringement in the US.

It definitely is. But the magnitude is much different. China makes it very hard to do business in a wide spectrum of industries. That's their right. But it's not free trade in any sense.