The US is an ally and it is somewhat harder to punish a nation state than a company. Why would Apple take the risk? China can't exactly reveal that they are ban

The US is an ally and it is somewhat harder to punish a nation state than a company. Why would Apple take the risk? China can't exactly reveal that they are banning an American company for not spying on American citizens, and it's not clear what convincing pretext they could provide instead, so I don't think they would actually go through with a ban and Apple would probably just call their bluff.