Another Icarus: WeChat, TikTok and the U.S. Government

By Clark Wu ‘23

“I can’t access YouTube. My VPN doesn’t work.” 

The number of times that little phrase has been tossed around boggles me. Beyond that, it makes me wonder—until fall term, I hadn’t realized how much COVID-19 and our new digital normal have changed public perception of China and Chinese-American students. To quite a few people, we are merely oppressed under the trying weight of a uniquely authoritarian government, longing to live like the Americans. The irony is rich, and we need only look at Trump’s proposed WeChat and TikTok bans to see why.

News of the ban of these social media apps arrived quite abruptly to the Chinese public. We were surprised, despite the Trump administration’s long history of anti-Chinese policies, rhetoric and its recent shift to technological warfare. More than a decade after Chinese bans on Facebook, YouTube, Google and various other American domains under the “Great Firewall of China,” America had finally “retaliated” on the grounds of “national security,” ending an era of pro-China cyber and fiscal openness from the United States. Even though these bans haven’t gone through, I can’t emphasize enough how transformational a moment this is in Sino-American relations.

Now, I must say that, particularly for its importance, this ban was very poorly executed, almost juvenile. 

Firstly, the ban itself poked a rather ironic hole into the “censorship equals cruel authoritarianism” fallacy that, unfortunately, many Americans buy into. Many of the same people who would go up to bat against the Great Firewall any day of the week have happily defended the choice to block two information and social media platforms.

Here, I’d like to make it clear that I’m not writing in support of the Chinese firewall. As a former content creator on the WeChat official account platform, I have experienced a few minor consequences myself. And as a student, it’s wreaked much more havoc on my web-surfing than I’d like to admit. We all know too well that the Chinese government monitors WeChat conversations, and, yes, the Party possesses tons of data from them. 

But I don’t see how uprooting WeChat, quite possibly the most vital hub of Chinese public opinion, doesn’t prompt at least some conversation in the supposed land of free speech. 

Plus, the ban isn’t even effective. To my knowledge, two hours after the news of the WeChat ban, the “notorious” Chinese parent group chat (including 400+ parents and students in disguise) formed a new chat on an application called “WeCom,” essentially an extension of WeChat catering to businesses. WeCom wasn’t banned by the Executive Order. I doubt Trump even knows what it is.

I believe this will become the trend for the approximately 20 million American users on WeChat who hope to continue using the application for communication with Chinese families, friends and business partners. Either that, or they’ll have to use their own VPN. It’s laughable, honestly.

In all seriousness, though, this ban would essentially cut off any remaining “formal” ties between the two countries on the internet. And the slippery slope downward is clearer than ever. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has proposed an embargo on Apple products, which would result in a potential 30% drop in sales and would likely pit the “nationalist” Huawei against Apple. Huawei, however, has stood on weak ground since the US ceased its sales of semiconductors, the heart of Huawei’s technological advances. It will survive right now because of its prepared stockpile, but it may not be able to replicate American technology for years. America’s not afraid to play dirty with Huawei; in case you don’t know, they’ve already embroiled the Huawei CEO’s daughter in legal trouble for 22 months.

Sino-U.S. relations have to move beyond countermeasure after countermeasure. Unfortunately, neither China nor America may be prepared to catalyze this shift. 

If this is a race to the bottom line, America has a long way to go. But, if this turns out to be a real “war,” I’m afraid China’s bound to lose. Honestly, Chinese trade boycotts against American allies cannot compare to the possible devastation America can bring about: a chip ban, for instance, could entirely pop the bubble that is “China’s 5G future.” Until last month, China didn’t even have its own complete satellite navigation system, and a few commands from America could have rendered the already inadequate Chinese Navy incapacitated. Hell, closing off Github access to a few fundamental lines of code could set dozens of Chinese industries back at least a decade.

What’s scary is that America is not above doing this. No, America did the exact same thing to Japan thirty years ago. The booming Japanese semiconductor industry threatened the markets of Intel, which neared bankruptcy. As such, America began “negotiations” on the grounds of, you guessed it, national security.

America imposed heightened tariffs, compartmentalized markets and blatantly stole Japanese patents on the technology. Fujistu, Toshiba and Hitachi have failed to reclaim their positions since. 

And, if I may point out, most of the students in my prep fall “The World in the 20th Century” class walked out thinking, “Wow, the Japanese managed to Westernize and adapt to a Euro-centric world!” Why, they did adapt. They rose to second place. Then, their protective older brother America kicked them off the podium.

We saw a similar ploy against the French company Alstom. There was one point where, supposedly, one out of every four light bulbs received their electric power from Alstom. Of course, America swiftly decided to take Alstrom executive Frederic Pierucci captive. Then, the U.S. used its judicial power to force Alstom to sell their energy department. Staff and salary reduction followed in no time.

TikTok and Huawei could soon become two new case studies in Pierucci’s book The American Trap; two more Icaruses doomed by their success.

It’s clear: the Nixonian era of Sino-U.S. relations has passed. Many Chinese Americanophiles, disillusioned by Xi, finally woke up when America betrayed its own ideals to challenge China. Maybe it’s time for Americans to wake up, too.