Many Chinese manufacturers don’t have close ties to the government,

Citation severely needed. Any company operating in China has close ties to the government, it’s literally a requirement to get a business license there.

and any non Chinese phone that you can buy also has backdoors, and quite frankly, for average Joe, their local government may be scarier than the chinese gorvernment.

Maybe, but it really shouldn’t and if it does that’s a problem. It’s a question of non-Chinese phone might have a backdoor, vs. Chinese phone that definitely has a backdoor. Either way saying “other options are just as bad” doesn’t make it a good option.

Also, your data is being used by the Googles, Microsofts, Apples, etc… in vast quantities daily. We are the product generally.

Yes, and that’s a major problem. It’s why there are various replacement firmwares to de-google your phone as well as other techniques to block or disable collection. Once again though, this doesn’t excuse Chinese phones doing this.

Also, remember that most brands manufacture in China, and there are ways to substitute components where the brand would be unsuspecting of the switch.

Sure, supply chain attacks are a thing. In theory there are ways to combat that but it’s a tricky problem. If a Chinese manufacturer got caught doing that though it would be a major international incident. Yet again though just because that might be a risk with any phone doesn’t mean you should just accept and use a phone that’s known to have a backdoor.