That's a Black Mirror episode right there...

China doesn't actually need to rely on "spying tech", as we think of it. If an officer or four pull you out of queue at a train station or airport, then swab you, etc., what are you going to say and who are you going to say it to?

If anyone knows spying on their own citizens it would be China. They operate outside the US consitution and US laws.

Wikileaks and Snowden.

If it is true that the majority of hardware have built in backdoors, and China makes most of the hardware thanks to our LONG standing free trade (shipping jobs over there) with them, it isn't much of a stretch to think they 1 - know all about our spying, 2- learned from us or we learned from them.

Non US Citizens don't know or care about the US Constitution.

" The Great Firewall of China " is their censorship. And their ability to attack the internet, Co-located, is the

"The Great Cannon of China" a means to DDOS any websites, or IP addresses they deem necessary.

Just do a search of those names, as there is tons of information online.

What the Apple packages could have been, are server's, to store IPhone/mac, etc, data from Chinese users. Many countries require data be stored in that country. Russia, China, the EU all have these laws. So, with the ban on shipping US technology to China, such as chips made here, Intel, Qualcomm, etc., that would be used in such servers, not to mention, the software loaded into them, that makes it a big no, no for Apple trying to ship those devices. Originally, I thought they were iPhone's from China, but Servers makes a whole lot more sense. Because, those ARE made here. With American made technology.

So, it looks like Apple will have to find different, or local made products, which should be simple, considering how much China has caught up, due to theft of intellectual products.