I know this article is biased and contains possible gross understatement of the WS-10B engine. Still, it could be interesting to add it to our discussion.
Only people with massive axes to grind against China would spit on the SCMP if it was on fire, never mind give them anything to publish. Such people wouldn’t get remotely far enough in China to be part of any military project or even high end civilian R&D projects, as they would fail even a rudimentary security screening by getting flagged as massively likely to turn traitor.
It’s just the same echo chamber circle jerk typical of western media, all quoting the same trash piece from the nortorious anti-China, foreign-funded ‘free’ SCMP who are quoting ‘anonymous’ (read unverifiable) sources, with some childish extra put-downs thrown in for good measure by an author so specialised in military affairs he writes for a business publication.
Why you even waste time with this kind of cookie cutter trash piece is beyond me.