The amount of queries needed to steal a model (which is possible though queries) is prohibitive. This is probably just an attempt to keep up the fantasy that China cannot do their own models. That is nonsense. For example, small Switzerland has created its own open model (https://apertus-ai.org/), mostly as an academic project. China for sure can do it. All I see China doing is comparative benchmarks and such and that is perfectly legitimate.
If China can do it, that means the likes of Anthropic are not nearly as special as they present themselves to be. But that false image of superiority is what keeps their cash-flow going, because they are still very far away from becoming profitable (if they ever do). Hence, in order to be able to keep burning the stupid money (from "investors"), they have to push this narrative.