You are making a big assumption that the Chinese are working long and hard on anything. They spudded five duds. They asked for an extension to see if Total can prove up anything worthwhile. If nothing is found by Total, the JDZ is history, no one in their right mind will spend another 100 million per well. It wouldn't be worth the gamble.
Even if true, in the end it does not matter. JDA will tell them to drill or leave. Raw information will be given to TOTAL and they don't need the Chinese interpretation of that information.