They seem to be abandoning China, they are planning to move some 40% of the total iPhone production to India within the next couple of years, so China might not have all that much leverage.
Manufacturing, sure. Consumers? no.
Apple traded it's privacy priority for profits back in 2017 when it gave backdoor access to all the iCloud backups - https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/technology/apple-china-ce...
Just because Apple couldn't officially sell any iPhones in China doesn't mean that the Chinese public would suddently stop coveting them. I don't think they'd blame Apple if it came to that.
Same reason they edit movies to appease chinese audiences