Right, it's worth remembering that Apple deals with lawsuits all the time. All costs and benefits considered, it's probably the best option for them to lie abou

Right, it's worth remembering that Apple deals with lawsuits all the time. All costs and benefits considered, it's probably the best option for them to lie about this for now, and plausible deniability is always a possibility ("at the time of writing, Apple PR were not aware of x, y and z"). The cost of losing access to the gigantic China market and its manufacturing operations would be much too great.