Shortly before he officially leaves office as president, Donald Trump is throwing another cudgel into the already troubled fray. Through an executive order, he is blocking the service of about eight Chinese payment apps in the United States, including big names such as Alipay and WeChat. According to Trump, these pose a threat to national security.
Over the past decade, several Chinese payment apps have built a solid customer base. This is often a logical consequence of the size of the home market. A market share of a few dozen percent automatically equals several hundred million users. Nevertheless, the Chinese fintech giants are looking with an eager eye at other major markets, such as the United States. To that end, they have already invested heavily in recent years. President Trump is now calling a halt to them.
On its face, it is a remarkable decision by Trump, especially since it comes so shortly before his departure. At the same time, it is an unpleasant legacy he is leaving to his successor Joe Biden, as the decree automatically represents a blow to already strained U.S.-China relations.
"By accessing personal electrical devices such as smartphones, tablets and computers, Chinese software applications can gain insight into vast sources of information, including sensitive personal identification data and other private information," part of the decree reads. Because these individuals may include U.S. government personnel, he considers these apps a risk to national security.
The past few days have not done the current president's already questionable reputation any favors. But in this case, his fears may not be unfounded. That in turn has to do with the Chinese government, which is little by little gaining more influence over big tech companies like Alibaba, Ant Group and Tencent. Thus, Beijing would also like these companies to release certain data, data that spy or counterintelligence agencies could theoretically do useful things with. Earlier this year, for similar reasons, there was also a buzz about the China-based app TikTok.
Among the banned apps are big names like Ant Group's Alipay, Tencent's WeChat and, for many Westerners, lesser-known names like CamScanner, QQ Wallet, Shareit, Tencent QQ, VMate and WPS Office. The executive order goes into effect within 45 days. That deadline means that Joe Biden - if he sees fit - can still cancel the decree before it is effectively in effect.
