Unsolved How does "whatever" punch through my router to control IOT devices.

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So I have a typical home network, using Ubiquiti UDM wireless router. I have IOT light bulbs and plugs controlled by speech to Alexa.
When I am outside of my network, I can have Alexa on my phone control everything. Very common.
Question: How does “whatever”, China(?) reach through my router running NAT? There was no outgoing connection from within my network for an established connection.

Also, what entity is punching through my router? Chinese manufacturer? Amazon? Where does my command through Alexa go to? Why do I never see these most salient questions?

Hey @Forrest-Stivers-II , I hope you are well! When you say "whatever" China? do you have any screenshots that you can share? Do you have any of your IoT devices connected to cloud other than Alexa? Also, you could run a packet capture to see if what is happening on your network and note any public IP addresses.

@Forrest-Stivers-II,

Your alexa device is already on your network. When you speak to it, it reaches out to the alexa's cloud and the return traffic comes back. It doesn't need to punch a hole through your firewall or router. This return traffic is requested traffic.

The same is true of your other IOT devices as well. You put the device within your network. When you activate it, it also is reaching out to it's controller to do respond, which means it was requested traffic.