Ukrainian military observer Oleksandr Kovalenko shared this opinion on his Telegram channel. In a recent commentary, Kovalenko noted that China, with its advanced and increasingly innovative defense industry, would not expend time or resources on technology that lacked strategic value. "This is not the 1950s or 1960s, when China depended on Soviet exports and stolen Soviet technology. Today, Beijing is selective and precise in its intelligence priorities," he said.Their interest in the Neptune system, he added, is no surprise given the missile’s combat track record and likely ongoing upgrades.The RK-360MC Neptune gained international attention in April 2022, when it sank the Russian guided missile cruiser Moskva in a landmark strike during the early months of Russia’s full-scale invasion. On August 23, 2023, the missile reportedly destroyed a Russian S-400 air defense system at Cape Tarkhankut in occupied Crimea — a system that theoretically should have intercepted the strike. "Something clearly didn’t go according to plan for the S-400," Kovalenko remarked.On March 26, 2024, a coordinated strike using Neptune missiles severely damaged four Russian naval vessels in Sevastopol: the landing ships Azov and Yamal, the reconnaissance ship Ivan Khurs, and the Konstantin Olshansky, a Ukrainian ship seized by Russia in 2014."Given its battlefield record and the likely upgrades made to the missile, it’s no wonder the Chinese are interested," Kovalenko concluded.Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has uncovered an espionage operation involving two Chinese nationals accused of attempting to smuggle classified documents on the production of Neptune cruise missiles to China.