They don't want to deal with Google Play Services missing because it's pretty rare to have a mainstream phone without it, as soon as the Chinese manufacturers pump out millions of devices without it in the western market all at once, the developers will have to follow.

Google does have a card to play here, I don't disagree but they shouldn't overstate their hand either. The Google bits of Android are good enough to keep open-source ROMs and small manufacturers away but they aren't a silver bullet and won't save them if China stops playing the game.

> as soon as the Chinese manufacturers pump out millions of devices without it in the western market all at once, the developers will have to follow.

I highly doubt that. People have far too much money already invested in Play Store purchases, that's a lot to give up for a marginally cheaper phone.