A few weeks ago, I traveled on a United issued award ticket and transited (international to international on the same PNR) thru PEK T3 without having to collect my luggage.

BKK(TG) ~ PEK ~ SFO(CA)

I had no problems checking my bag to SFO, but was unable to obtain the PEK~SFO boarding pass while checking-in at BKK. However, I had no problems getting the BP printed from the transfer desk in PEK T3.

The PEK T3 transfer desk agent just asked to see my baggage claim stubs and my passport. A few minutes after locating the proper BP cardstock, I only needed to take a few steps to queue up for the transit immigration line.

You do NOT need to fill out the Arrivals & Departures slip if you're just transiting. I received a red hexagonal shaped stamp in my passport, and proceeded thru a corridor and down an escalator, which put me at the front of the passport check queue for the security screening lanes.

No problems with the luggage arriving at SFO. In fact, it seemed like the *A Priority tags actually did some good (or maybe I was just fortunate)... my bags were among the first dozen that came off the belt.