I mean I’m sure it’s partially meant to brag and warn.

Though the US government has a shortage of mandarin speakers and all their spies in china have been executed a few years ago, so the unit translating and interpreting these scientific articles must be very tiny and likely get little attention from the big brass. The majority of Americans will scoff because they believe that Chinese people still live in huts. It’s basically a futile attempt at bragging because China’s enemies are incompetent and victims of racism by their bosses lol