The article said it's not activated by default for western buyers, but that Xiaomi has the ability to remotely enable it. On that note, there is no setting on either Apple or Google phones that lets you tell the phone, "Under no circumstances remotely install or disable software on my device unless I give explicit consent. I paid for this phone with my own money and I own it and control it."

Google and Apple are the real owners of Google and Apple phones. They can install and uninstall whatever they want, whenever they want.