Well that’s actually a really good point. We already know that Russia is sharing intel with them and even if China wasn’t doing the same, I’m sure they have no problem with sharing that intel at a price.

With this perspective I’m actually relatively convinced that the move could have more to do with outside perception (be it for Americans or for the rest of the world).

Still, there’s no telling what the quality or timelines of the imagery they’re currently getting is like, they don’t need one more avenue to get that data.