>> The PRC didn’t get a thing that was worthwhile.
You are full of $hit. I know with absolute certainty that the PRC got a LOT that was worthwhile. Why would you even make such an ignorant statement?
“The PRC didn’t get a thing that was worthwhile. And we got our crew and plane back.”
In the greater scheme of things, the crew is very valuable, the plane is not very valuable, and the equipment/access to the equipment on the plane is extremely valuable.
On a much smaller scale, think of the situation with OBL and his satellite phone. Once he found out we were listening in, he stopped using it and we lost a very valuable source of information.
Say the PRC takes a look at the equipment, and sees what the US can intercept. Then, they change their communications methods to avoid interception. Or, knowing the interception capabilities, they can now enhance their false transmissions in crisis situations, making us more likely to believe them. How about getting a leg up on jamming communications from the plane based on filling in information gaps that they had before?
What about getting a big leg up on breaking our datalink transmissions. Suddenly, they can determine where each of our units are. Or potentially reading our message traffic. Remember what happened in WWII with the Germans after we started reading their traffic encrypted by Enigma machines.
Even if you don’t consider exploiting our technology against us, I’m sure you’ll probably see some improvements in their intelligence gathering equipment (if they haven’t already from the technology Clinton had made sure ended up there).