https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/29/technology/china-tiktok-export-controls.html
In an 11th-hour twist, Beijing raised a potential hurdle for a sale of TikTok, further roiling the race to buy the Chinese-owned app.
By Paul Mozur, Raymond Zhong and
As the sale of TikTok enters its final stages, Beijing is saying it wants the last word.
In a bureaucratic two-step, China on Friday updated its export control rules to cover a variety of technologies it deemed sensitive, including technology that sounded much like TikTok’s personalized recommendation engine. Then on Saturday, the country’s official Xinhua news agency published commentary by a professor who said the new rule would mean that the video app’s parent, the Chinese internet giant ByteDance, might need a license to sell its technology to an American suitor.
Beijing’s last-minute assertion of authority is an unexpected wrinkle for a deal as two groups race to buy TikTok’s U.S. operations before the Trump administration bans the app. Taken together, the rule change and the commentary in official media signaled China’s intention to dictate terms over a potential deal, though experts said it remained unclear whether the Chinese government would go as far as to sink it.
The moves from Beijing ensnare TikTok and potential American buyers including Microsoft and Oracle, wedging them in the middle of a tussle between the United States and China over the future of global technology. Beijing’s displeasure alone could scare off TikTok’s suitors, many of whom have operations in China. TikTok is the most globally successful app ever produced by a Chinese company, and the conflict over its fate could further fracture the internet and plunge the world’s two largest economies into a deeper standoff.
“At a minimum they’re flexing their muscles and saying, ‘We get a say in this and we’re not going to be bystanders,’” said Scott Kennedy, a senior adviser at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies who studies Chinese economic policy.
“It could be an effort to outright block the sale, or just raise the price, or attach conditions to it to give China leverage down the road,” he said. He added that it showed a rare bit of consensus between China and the United States that both agreed ByteDance was a national security priority.
If Beijing blocks the sale of TikTok, it would effectively be calling the Trump administration’s bluff, forcing the U.S. government to actually go through with restricting the app and potentially incurring the wrath of its legions of influencers and fans. Ordering companies like Apple and Google to take down TikTok in app stores globally could also prompt further anger against the Trump administration and even lawsuits.
China’s changes to its export rules came just as ByteDance had signaled that it was close to reaching a resolution on the future of TikTok’s business in the United States. President Trump this month issued an executive order restricting Americans’ dealings with TikTok beginning in mid-September. He and other White House officials have said the app could be a Trojan Horse for data gathering by the Chinese Communist Party, an accusation that ByteDance has denied. That set off the deal negotiations.
Chinese officials have denounced the Trump administration’s treatment of TikTok, characterizing it as
“bullying.”
谷歌翻譯:
在第11小時的轉折中，北京提出了出售TikTok的潛在障礙，這進一步加劇了購買中國擁有的應用程序的競爭。
o 2020年8月29日
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隨著TikTok的銷售進入最後階段，北京方面表示要硬道理。
中國通過官僚化的兩步走，於週五更新了其出口管制規則，以涵蓋它認為敏感的各種技術，包括聽起來很像TikTok的個性化推薦引擎的技術。然後在周六，該國官方的新華社發表了一位教授的評論。他說，新規定意味著該視頻應用程序的父母中國互聯網巨頭ByteDance可能需要許可證才能將其技術出售給美國的購買者。
在特朗普政府禁止該應用程序之前，兩個團體競相購買TikTok在美國的業務，北京方面最後一分鐘的權威斷言是一筆意外交易。總而言之，規則的改變和官方媒體的評論表明，中國有意就一項潛在交易規定條件，儘管專家表示，目前尚不清楚中國政府是否會竭盡全力。
北京方面的舉動使TikTok和潛在的美國買家（包括微軟和甲骨文）採取了行動，使他們陷入了中美之間就全球技術的未來的紛爭之中。僅北京方面的不滿就可能嚇倒TikTok的求婚者，其中許多人在中國有業務。TikTok是中國公司生產的全球最成功的應用程序，其命運之爭可能會進一步破壞互聯網，並使世界上兩個最大的經濟體陷入更深的僵局。
位於華盛頓的戰略與國際研究中心高級顧問斯科特·肯尼迪（Scott Kennedy）表示：“至少他們會竭盡全力說，'我們在這方面有發言權，我們不會成為旁觀者。'”研究中國經濟政策的人。
他說：“這可能是徹底阻止出售的努力，或者只是提高價格，或者附加條件以使中國在未來發揮槓桿作用。” 他補充說，中美之間很少達成共識，即雙方都同意ByteDance是國家安全的優先事項。
如果北京方面阻止了TikTok的出售，那將實際上是在稱特朗普政府的虛張聲勢，迫使美國政府實際上限制了該應用程序的使用，並可能招致其眾多影響者和粉絲的憤怒。像蘋果和谷歌這樣的公司下令在全球的應用商店中刪除TikTok可能還會引發對特朗普政府甚至訴訟的進一步憤怒。
ByteDance 和Oracle拒絕評論規則更改和新華社的文章。微軟沒有立即發表評論。美國商務部未回應置評請求。白宮沒有立即回應置評請求。但是北京的舉動可能會冒給特朗普團隊中更多鷹派成員的權力，並引發政府的更強有力的回應，政府表示可能會採取更多措施阻止阿里巴巴和百度等科技公司在美國開展業務。。
就在中國改變其出口規則之際，就如同ByteDance 暗示即將就 TikTok 在美國業務的未來達成一項決議一樣。特朗普總統本月發布了一項行政命令，限制美國人從9月中旬開始與TikTok的往來。他和其他白宮官員曾表示，該應用程序可能是中國共產黨用於收集數據的特洛伊木馬，但ByteDance否認了這一指控。這引發了交易談判。
中國官員譴責特朗普政府對TikTok的待遇，稱其為“欺凌”。
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