Both are true. Google cut off Huawei because the US government told them to.

It is not like they had an option. They are a US based company. They must do it.

I fully agree. Google had to comply, but it is not in its advantage because it shows that Google is too much powerful and that is problematic.

No, it shows that the US is too powerful.

All the craziness about preventing American internet companies from dominating the Domestic Chinese market makes total sense now, doesn't it? If the Chinese economy had been built around Facebook, Google etc. the US would have a lot of leverage, since they're all US-based companies and _must_ comply with whatever US Government asks them to do.

The Chinese government has prevented plenty of US companies from doing business in China including Google, but more importantly is the rejection of patents and intellectual property and espionage conducted by Chinese government, which has cost US companies billions and the US government hundreds of lives.

> which has cost US companies billions and the US government hundreds of lives.

Can you tell me with a straight face that the CIA, NSA etc. do _not_ have active espionage activities in China? Do you think valuable intellectual property and state secrets exist only in the US? That as a result of these activities, the Chinese Government has not also lost lives?

Do not buy so easily into propaganda. Nations will promote themselves as the only "Good" nation to their own people throughout the world. Because the US is a democracy, the US Government has to be very careful and frame the narrative in a way that's not an outright power grab.

I'm sure Indian tech companies/government are watching this play out as well.

Google may lose a lot more business than it seems at first glance.

IANAL and it's not clear to me exactly what method was used to "force" Google. We ignore the FUD over Huawei's telco equipment because that has precisely nothing to do with their smartphones. What's left, then? Sure, they probably have all sorts of monitoring tools built into their phones, but so does every other smartphone manufacturer. What made Huawei different, and what legal instrument conveyed this difference to Google's lawyers?

Yes, the US forced them to exercise their iron grip... thus demonstrating Google's previously unexercised power.

The US has power over Google. Google has power over android. TFA is about the latter.

They can move their HQ somewhere else.