Does appear a bit ridiculous... so Either there is some unmentioned other reason, some cultural difference, or just an excuse to back out... it really doesn't make much sense in context.
Ya because they realized they were duped into adopting SW in exchange for something they could do anyway without blockstream permission.
That is very insulting to the Chinese miners and f2pool... I seriously doubt they have remained ignorant of segwit and its implications that have been so openly discussed for months.
"If you've worried bitcoin will end up with two different coins, leading to a market crash - you should rest assured. The major result of the meeting is: Core agreed to add 2MB hard fork in code, and in exchange, Chinese miners agree to continue to run core. There will be only one framework where we determine when and how to HF/SW. The risk of splitting is thus reduced greatly."
"To ensure core will release a version containing hard fork code, Chinese Miners will agree to deploy SW. In other words, if core refuses to deliver a HF version, or the software is with inadequate activation prerequisites (such as HF triggered only with 95% or more hashrate agree), our miners can refuse SW."
As you can see, core used a 2mb HF as a negotiating chip to get miners to adopt their SWSF, which is a requirement for their company building LN/SC in order to make a profit and pay back their 55 milion $ investors.