His goal was to expand Google into china [1], then he folded on that due to employee pushback. Similarly with all the other mini dramas (working with the military, "AI principles").

He may not even be wrong, the biggest risk to google is some regulator getting unhappy so playing it safe makes sense.

[1]https://www.vox.com/2016/6/1/11830654/google-ceo-sundar-pich...