211–220 of 242 posts
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The World Trade Organization allows for asymmetrical relations like that for developing countries. Same reason why we don't demand a level playing field between sheep and wolves... China is a poor, third-world country.
>China is a poor, third-world country. No. It's a very dangerous economic and military juggernaut that abuses its population as well as the environment. Let's be real.
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That's not really our problem though. They've shown they have no intention of opening up regardless of how rich they get.
Have you perhaps heard of "reform and opening up"? It started being a thing in the 1970s and every Chinese government since then has opened up more and more, because that's how they're getting rich. The latest big move in that direction was the new Foreign Investment Law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Investment_Law_of_the_... that went into effect this year, which introduced a bunch of big changes, such as sw…
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WeChat isn't a threat because barely any Americans use it.
Many Chinese Americans use it to communicate with family. Some of them work on sensitive programs and are easily monitored by a multi app with broad permissions.
As a European I find this whole story very confusing. A president that can just force a specific company on very short notice to shut down operation, is very concerning. What is even more concerning is that a lot of people here tend to agree because of the China thing. If it is that important, why is there no law that enforces this?
I hate this "As a European" generalizations as if Europe has an entirely homogeneous spread of governance. Take this for a second; Bulgaria and Denmark is both Europe, or Hungary and Sweden.
- We put a higher value on diplomacy and less on force
- I don't hear leaders say "God save " (might be wrong here)
- We don't want to put guns in everyone's hands
- We have a more social system
- We don't spy on our allies for economical gains
- Our world is bigger than our country or continent
- We can point out various countries on a world map ;)
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I hate this "As a European" generalizations as if Europe has an entirely homogeneous spread of governance. Take this for a second; Bulgaria and Denmark is both Europe, or Hungary and Sweden.
I think politically, Europe still has a different mindset than US: - We put a higher value on diplomacy and less on force - I don't hear leaders say "God save " (might be wrong here) - We don't want to put guns in everyone's hands - We have a more social system - We don't spy on our allies for economical gains - Our world is bigger than our country or continent - We can point out various countries on a world map ;)
- Obssesed with American Politics
- Consider themselves experts on issues they don't really understand
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The World Trade Organization allows for asymmetrical relations like that for developing countries. Same reason why we don't demand a level playing field between sheep and wolves... China is a poor, third-world country.
So you put China and Burundi on the same category? Really?
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The World Trade Organization allows for asymmetrical relations like that for developing countries. Same reason why we don't demand a level playing field between sheep and wolves... China is a poor, third-world country.
So you put China and Burundi on the same category? Really?
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They operate under the rules of a powerful political jurisdiction which is not particularly friendly to the US. Here's a simplified version of how the government thinks about it: If Facebook has data on a government employee, it's not a big deal, because Facebook stores that data in the US, and is friendly to the US, and if they do anything bad, they ultimately answer to the laws and regulations of the US government.…
Bytedance is incorporated in the Cayman Island, its not a Chinese company. It has a subsidiary in Hong Kong that operates the Chinese business. Its this portion of the business that has to adhere to Chinese laws. The rest of the company, including the US subsidiary is not under the jurisdiction of Chinese laws, and the US subsidiary fully owns TikTok. The data storage and content moderation are all handled by US empl…
The location of incorporation bears no relevance on the control on the people and property within the physical jurisdiction of a country. Bytedance's physical headquarters is in Beijing.
> Bytedance's CEO is Zhang yiming, is a Chinese national. And its board has one Chinese national and three non-Chinese nationals. It's owned by a number of international investors, these investors likely have a say in the company as well. These people would not have built a company with Chinese government DNA. Zhang yiming himself has criticized the government in the past. Although he has toed with Chinese government lines in China because he has to. But he personally admires the US and its political culture. The management is also saying they are moving HQ to other countries. I think given the management's mindset, they really want to deal as little with the Chinese government as possible
Then it should be clear how much power the CCP has over them, when he says things like this:
> in April 2018 the government compelled ByteDance to shut down its popular “Neihan Duanzi” (“inside jokes”) app for good due to its “vulgar” content. In response, Zhang issued a letter of self-criticism where he said, “Our product took the wrong path, and content appeared that was incommensurate with socialist core values.” He also promised that the firm would in the future “Further deepen cooperation with authoritative [official party] media, elevating distribution of authoritative media content, ensuring that authoritative [official party] media voices are broadcast to strength.” [0]
[0]: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/01/16/bytedance-cant-outrun-b...
Bear in mind here, I am simply listing reasons why the US government would be marginally concerned about ByteDance in comparison to domestic social media, not defending the mechanisms by which this current administration is handling things.
Even if Kevin was to stay as TikTok CEO, he would have to leave his role as the COO of ByteDance. It’s totally understandable that he would want to leave given the reduced scope (no more head of a global company etc.). What seems suspicious however is why he would leave prior to an acquisition. As a CEO, that won’t reflect too good on his reputation... so there’s gotta be a tradeoff somewhere. Wait & see!
If I had to read between the lines, his leaving is signalling that Bytedance is digging into their position selling the minimum number of assets (US + 4 eyes) and the negotiations are reaching the crucial stages. Previously there was still hope of selling TikTok globally. More importantly it seems that Kevin/TikTok has no influence at all in the negotiations - it is purely between Bytedance and the relevant companies…
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A few billion, at least for those kind of stakes
Nonsense, politicians get into much more trouble for way less than that. He just doesn't know how to handle pressure - which is what he is paid well to do. Unacceptable.