Yes, the article is not very well written, in that it blends factual statements about the new laws together with their own opinions, e.g. 'For that reason, the

Yes, the article is not very well written, in that it blends factual statements about the new laws together with their own opinions, e.g. 'For that reason, the Chinese Cybersecurity Bureau does not plan to politely make a formal request for the information. The fundamental premise of the new cybersecurity systems is that the government will use its control of communications to simply take the information without discussing the matter with the user.' Does the author have some magical view into the Chinese Cybersecurity Bureau? Is he making this broad statement based upon something that the CSB has said? Or is it just his viewpoint? Much more likely is, as you state, when the government wants something, they are going to come along and demand it. And if you want to keep doing business in China, you will have to provide that data. This, while still a worrying state of affairs, is a far different scenario from 'all crypto is banned!' espoused by the writer.