That relevant quote is misleading to say the least and possibly sensational: the real reason such a modified version exists is to replace the cryptographic stan

That relevant quote is misleading to say the least and possibly sensational: the real reason such a modified version exists is to replace the cryptographic standards from US FIPS to Chinese-approved ones. Of course, they (like every company and government lucky enough to have access to Enterprise versions) can turn off that telemetry (there is no detail if it was indeed removed, but I wouldn't be shocked if it instead collects telemetry to be sent off to Chinese government-controlled servers).