A fact given insufficient prominence in the NYT report is that ChinADA is literally part of the Chinese government (an agency under the General Sports Administration) and that it was ChinADA that reported the positive results to WADA in June 2021 (which is how we even learned of the existence of these results in the first place), so there doesn't seem to be a very straightfoward way to fit this into the "cover up for national pride" narrative.
> The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) then contacted WADA by email in April 2023 about the TMZ cases. It advised WADA of a tip from an unspecified source that the positive TMZ cases had been hidden. This information was clearly erroneous in that the positive TMZ cases had been reported and decided by CHINADA, as well as thoroughly reviewed by both WADA and World Aquatics, nearly two years prior.
Also, from WADA's statement: https://www.wada-ama.org/en/news/wada-statement-case-23-swim...
> The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) then contacted WADA by email in April 2023 about the TMZ cases. It advised WADA of a tip from an unspecified source that the positive TMZ cases had been hidden. This information was clearly erroneous in that the positive TMZ cases had been reported and decided by CHINADA, as well as thoroughly reviewed by both WADA and World Aquatics, nearly two years prior.