I spent most of my Air Force career refueling. It can be demanding in bad weather conditions or at night but the US Air Force has been doing this for about 50 years.
Still, this capability is not to be dismissed lightly. Tanker sales by the US are restricted because the tanker is considered to be an offensive weapon. What's that, you say? Yes indeedy. An offensive weapon because it increases the range and capability of any aircraft that can use it. Still, a full up tanker fleet is hard to come by, maintain, and even more important, maintain currency on.
My take on the article is that China must have achieved a pretty good standard of training for at least some of their pilots if they can refuel jets in the air. I have seen videos of aerial refueling, and it looks very demanding. I wonder if the Russians helped train the Chinese? It wouldn't surprise me.
Yeah, but the Air Force has that whole male/female coupling relationship backwards. I don't know why AF fighter guys are so eager to have the tanker guys jam them in the backside of their aircraft with a long probe......
I've sometimes wondered about the technology involved in preventing leaks as fuel is being transferred between aircraft. Hopefully the answer isn't top secret.