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I rather think they don't need to request, but have a direct line into the servers.

China government literally forces direct integration into every messaging and financial service. If you talk shit about the government in wechat, the police will call you the next minute.

Fun fact: This is also why iCloud in China isn't actually run by Apple at all, but by a company called AIPO Cloud (Guizhou) Technology Co. Ltd, and the Terms of Service/Privacy Policy is different from the rest of iCloud.

Yes, because it was a command not a request.

Meaning that there is an intermediary?

I am convinced they would absolutely tell the truth if they had handed over any data to the Chinese government and would never just lie about it to protect their business interests /s

I find the exact wording believable enough. There was never a request, the Chinese government just accesses the data they need without a request.