The reason the mainland Chinese authorities want the data servers in China is to read the personal data belonging to those in Hong Kong and and others, who they previously did not have access to.
It’s all about control and access to the activities of the people living in China and in it’s special districts, like Hong Kong.
The Chinese are not ignorant of this.. It is why Blackberry became very popular for a while because it’s e-mail servers were not accessible to the Chinese government.
Apple has now joined Yahoo and others on the proverbial “plank” where foolish compromises often lead to corporate suicide at some point.
Of course you have millions of lemmings who say..”I have nothing to hide, so why worry about phone security?”
To that I say..........har, har, har....
Let um choose whether they want the Chinese business.