Keyword: Almost.
From what I gather, Apple made a generic filing for the word "iPhone" for electronic devices back in 2002. In 2007, Xintong Tiandi filed for the trademark "IPHONE" for leather products. In 2010, Xintong's trademark was granted, then finally in 2013 Apple's trademark was granted.
2007 was the initial release of the iPhone, and you could reasonably argue it was not a worldwide phenomenon at the time. So there's no reason why a wholly different company local to china, can apply for a chinese trademark, on a name that at the time would not be considered a conflict in China. If you're stuck on the fact that Apple initially applied for that trademark back in 2002, would this mean I could reasonably apply for just about every potential trademark under the sun and when years later someone decides to release a product under a similar name, I can jump out and say "Hey, I applied for a really similar name long before you did!", even if i had never been granted that copyright until after them? That's not how it works.
I'm more annoyed at how you wanted to come into this thread already with the right "answer" to how we should be treating this. You expected people to come in and argue China was in the right, and tried to shut them down/hand wave them away just calling them "defenders" like you didn't want to have an actual discussion.
