It's not 100% clear what "data" is being protected here. Is it your personal data, like your name and e-mail address, which seems to be the sort of data described in the aforementioned privacy policy? Or could it also mean everything on the hard drive? What else could they send to the PRC for repair other than the data on your hard drive? The privacy policy isn't really written to address such data, but clearly there's a general spirit in it to the effect that Apple will take all reasonable measures to protect your data. Even from the People's Republic of China.