Editor’s note for Monday, September 28, 2020

My thoughts today:

TikTok and WeChat news: Here are three links to understand what’s happening with the Trump administration’s rushed efforts to cleanse the American internet of Chinese-owned communications apps.

The latest news:

• A judge delayed Trump’s ban of TikTok as the company scrambles to make a deal with Oracle, Walmart / Washington Post

Commentary:

• Technical difficulties / ChinaFile
• The TikTok fiasco reflects the bankruptcy of Trump’s foreign policy / The New Yorker

Upcoming events:

• On September 30, The China Project is hosting a CEO webinar and live China Corner Office Podcast on U.S.-China trade tensions and technology distrust, featuring the author of One Billion Customers: Lessons from the Front Lines of Doing Business in China and Greater China Chairman for APCO Worldwide James McGregor.
• The China Project community members can receive discounted tickets to China Institute’s October 13-15 Executive Summit 2020: Finding Success in an Age of Crisis by using the promo code SUPCHINA30OFF when registering for the online event here.

Our word of the day is unjustified suppression and bullying against non-U.S. companies (无理打压别国企业的霸凌行径 wúlǐ dǎyā bié guó qǐyè de bàlíng xíngjìng). This is how the Chinese Foreign Ministry described new U.S. export restrictions on SMIC, the country’s largest manufacturer of microchips (see today’s top story).

—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief