One could easily have the impression that despite this, China has never really given a rat's ass about being in the good graces of the US, and that when they do

One could easily have the impression that despite this, China has never really given a rat's ass about being in the good graces of the US, and that when they do relent it is often the case that they do not do so in good faith at all. If they comply with ethics and human rights, it's to the absolute minimum of that and in an underhanded way designed to undermine, but often not even that and they're just cheating and good at hiding it. In other words, not much would be lost except the devious lip service.