@skye
Because when installed a minimalistic way, it is tiny, robust, fast, & secure.
Oh, & free. <-- That's the biggie.
That said, if China wanted to hide espionage shit in appliances, Linux would get installed in every smart-whatever sold into the western market.
I bet Xi has a big red kill button. If he gets too pissed off, boom, no "smart" gadgets work, anywhere. Imagine the impact of that.