China has responded to the new U.S. House bill passed against TikTok, and it doesn't look like it's going to make the U.S.-Sino relationship any better. While the measure still has to wind its way through the Senate, it would essentially ban the platform for all Americans unless TikTok's operations were divested from Chinese parent firm ByteDance (BDNCE). The formal name of the bill, titled the "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act," also likely riled Beijing, which was quick to lay out its position and accuse Washington of "resorting to acts of bullying."
Quote: "Though the U.S. has never found any evidence of TikTok posing a threat to U.S. national security, it has never stopped going after TikTok," said Wang Wenbin, spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "Such practice of resorting to hegemonic moves when one could not succeed in fair competition disrupts the normal operation of businesses, undermines the confidence of international investors in the investment environment, and sabotages the normal economic and trade order in the world. This will inevitably come back to backfire on the United States itself."
Speaking of fair competition, Beijing does not allow any U.S. social media companies to operate in China, though there appears to be something bigger here at play. It revolves around the significant policy shift in how to deal with China and the evaluation of what capabilities should be ascribed to the CCP. What started as a crusade against intellectual property theft and unfair trade practices has morphed into accusations of mass surveillance and the ability to influence an entire generation of American youth. That doesn't mean the threat isn't real or isn't happening, especially given the danger of a new global order, but one thing seems certain: there will be tradeoffs of American liberties in exchange for a dramatic expansion of state power.
