What can China do to someone a US citizen, living in the US, using a Huawei phone? Even if all telephone calls are monitored?
What can the US do to someone in the same situation?
Yes, others are in different circumstances and would make a different choice. Best of course would be to have no mass surveillance system.
Sell personal details like credit card numbers or the SSN to a criminal syndicate.
No one said they would spy to steal state secrets.
Another possibility is identity theft. Read about the scandal involving Australian passports used by Israeli secret services in 2010: http://www.smh.com.au/national/mossad-hit-snares-australians....
That kind of ticky-tack stuff seems more like the work of organized crime ring than a national government of a state like China. Anyway, that stuff is subject to much more prosaic risks, like your being at the mercy of your dentist's office's online security set-up.
> That kind of ticky-tack stuff seems more like the work of organized crime ring
seems like you are idealizing China. I idealize neither and wish my privacy to be wrenched back from the illegal search and seizure of the NSA.
You should be worried about the government who has the power to imprison you.
The US absolutely does make lists of "suspicious" citizens. Just look at what the FBI did to protestors of the keystone pipeline.
Also even if you are not of direct interest to China, what about your friends and colleagues? They can use you as a tool to get to those that you have direct communication with.
What can the US do to someone who's not a citizen, living outside the US, with access to their communications? It's not difficult to find an answer to this. China would do the same to you and you won't be able to fight against it because you're not a citizen of China.