In China, the Trump administration sees a rising power that threatens American primacy. It has reacted the same way white nationalists are reacting to the Black Lives Matter movement: with belligerence and racist rhetoric.
Washington and Beijing are expected to talk about the phase one trade deal soon, but the conversation will not be limited to trade.
On August 6, President Trump issued an executive order to prohibit financial transactions involving WeChat — the Chinese app that helped him win the 2016 election.
President Trump signed two executive orders, one reiterating that he wants TikTok banned (unless Microsoft buys it), and another launching a new attack against WeChat. Depending on how the WeChat order is implemented, it could have massive implications for the parent company, Tencent, and the future of the internet.
Chinese state media and businesspeople are outraged at Trump’s requirement that TikTok sell its U.S.-based operations. The China Daily called it “tantamount” to “an officially sanctioned ‘steal’ of Chinese technology,” while famous tech investor Kai-Fu Lee called it “inconceivable.”
The U.S.-China relationship has survived obstacles and setbacks in the past. But today, amid high-level calls for both an economic and cultural decoupling, we have to consider what a rupture would look like — and its catastrophic consequences.
After a few days of indecision, President Trump has settled on an ultimatum for TikTok: Either sell your U.S. operations to an American company in 45 days, or be banned. Microsoft is in negotiations to buy it, but there are many uncertainties.
The meaning of internet freedom is changing. Under Trump, the U.S. seems set to tell China it was right to distrust foreign-owned social media apps.
Will Washington force Chinese internet giant ByteDance to sell its globally popular video app TikTok to a U.S. company?