if you are a regular person of no interest for politicians, your been choice is a backdoor from the least influential agency

so if you are Chinese you better stick with American security, if you are American you might consider chinese/Russian security etc

Given the choice should a western civil rights activist or whistleblower prefer a device "backdoored by the intelligence services of democratic nations" or one backdoored by despots perpetually at odds with the west?

Even a slight glance at modern history will quickly tell you what would be in the best interest of these heroes.

China's draconian laws can't touch me unless I leave the soil of this authoritarian democracy, which I'm quite critical of and has a long history of persecution. To tell the truth, I prefer Chinese backdoors to domestic ones -- as China will be reluctant to share keys to those backdoors with the government that has physical access to me.

China's security services have no qualms about extorting foreigners on foreign soil. You don't know how you're vulnerable.

If China is able to snatch me up off US soil, that’d be quite an achievement.

I said extortion, not kidnapping. And it has happened.