Latest news with #USChinaRelations
South China Morning Post
5 hours ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
TikTok ‘continues to work with' VP Vance on deal as its US fate hangs in the balance
TikTok, the popular short video app owned by China's ByteDance, thanked US President Donald Trump, while stating it was still working with Vice-President J.D. Vance who was tasked with brokering a deal under a sell-or-ban law. While TikTok's fate remains in limbo after Trump offered another 90-day postponement on the deadline for a deal, it will not be business as usual and a US sale could result in a bifurcated platform given the deal's complexity due to China's export rules, according to analysts. TikTok said on Thursday that it was 'grateful' for Trump's deadline extension, now set at September 17, which would allow it to keep serving its 170 million American users. It also said that it 'continues to work with Vice-President Vance's Office', which has been tasked with overseeing the deal process. There has been no update from Vance since March, when he said his team was 'trying to close this thing by early April'. However, negotiations collapsed amid escalating US-China trade tensions. On April 5, Trump extended the deadline to June 19. He first delayed it on January 20 when he took office. A view of the offices of TikTok in Culver City, California, April 2, 2025. Photo: Reuters Despite the negotiations for a trade truce, TikTok has not been named in the discussions. Beijing has remained silent on the matter, other than China's foreign affairs ministry issuing repeated statements saying that the TikTok case would be handled 'according to China's laws and regulations'.
Bloomberg
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Odd Lots: Zichen Wang's Exit Interview from America
Zichen Wang is the writer of the Pekingnology newsletter, which translates important speeches and articles from China into English, and contextualizes them for Western readers. Over the past year, he's been a master's degree student at Princeton University, although he's recently returned home to resume his career at a think tank in China. His stint in the US obviously came at a very interesting time, both due to the rising US-China tensions, and also the growing restrictions on Chinese students in the US. So before making his trip back home he joined us for another episode of Odd Lots. We discussed his experience here in America, his assessment of the state of US-China relations, and what his message will be upon his return to China.
Bloomberg
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Zichen Wang's Exit Interview From America
Listen to Odd Lots on Apple Podcasts Listen to Odd Lots on Spotify Subscribe to the newsletter Zichen Wang is the writer of the Pekingnology newsletter, which translates important speeches and articles from China into English, and contextualizes them for Western readers. Over the past year, he's been a master's degree student at Princeton University, although he's recently returned home to resume his career at a think tank in China. His stint in the US obviously came at a very interesting time, both due to the rising US-China tensions, and also the growing restrictions on Chinese students in the US. So before making his trip back home he joined us for another episode of Odd Lots. We discussed his experience here in America, his assessment of the state of US-China relations, and what his message will be upon his return to China.
Al Jazeera
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Is it time for Europe to choose China over the US?
As Donald Trump barrels through his second term in the White House, Europe faces a question it has long avoided: Should it continue clinging to its alliance with the United States, or is it time to chart a new course – perhaps one that leads eastwards? In April, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to encourage the European Union to 'resist together' against Washington's 'unilateral coercion'. This coercion is not limited to trade; it extends to politics, culture and global strategy. For Europe, the question is not simply whether the US remains a powerful ally but whether it is still the right one. A closer relationship with China now offers distinct advantages – an idea likely to be discussed at the EU-China summit in July. While European attitudes towards China remain cautious, as demonstrated by recent tariffs targeting low-cost imports from platforms like Temu and Shein, Europe's strategic reflex still defaults to the US, especially in finance and defence. That reflex, born of history, is increasingly out of step with Europe's long-term interests. The US has long pursued a consistent global aim: to preserve its position as the world's sole superpower. But under President Trump, US global leadership has taken a darker turn. Basic democratic principles are being eroded. Human rights, academic freedom and social justice have come under sustained assault. From unconditional support for Israel's devastating assault on Gaza – widely condemned as a genocide – to greenlighting a newly launched war on Iran, mass deportations and the dismantling of university funding, Trump's United States is actively undermining the values it once claimed to champion. China, of course, has its own challenges. It lacks press freedom, censors dissent and tightly controls public discourse. But is the democratic West still so different? In an information landscape dominated by a handful of tech billionaires, platforms like X and Facebook amplify misinformation and conspiracy theories while marginalising serious public debate. The treatment of whistleblowers such as Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden further suggests that truth itself has become a threat to what now passes as American democracy rather than a foundation of it. Europe must also confront the economic and political model it shares with the US. Democracy, once a source of pride, increasingly functions as ideological cover for oligarchy – rule by and for the few. Trump embodies this shift, treating democratic norms as obstacles to unending accumulation. But he is not alone in this. Across the West, wealth is increasingly concentrated and politics increasingly unresponsive to the needs of most of its people. The contrast between Washington and Beijing in foreign affairs also warrants attention. China maintains one overseas military base, in Djibouti, and a handful of small support outposts. The US, by contrast, operates more than 750 military installations worldwide. That vast footprint may soon serve Trump's revived imperial imagination: He recently shared a video envisioning Gaza as the 'Riviera of the Middle East' after saying its Palestinian residents would be resettled elsewhere. China, meanwhile, opposed such forced displacement and reaffirmed the Palestinian right to resist foreign occupation. China is also becoming an increasingly attractive destination for education. With more than 3,000 universities serving over 40 million students, its system is both expansive and accessible. Tuition ranges from $1,500 to $3,000 a year, in stark contrast to the $40,000 charged by many US institutions. Universities like Tsinghua are gaining global recognition for high-impact research. And while these institutions operate under strict censorship, they remain a serious alternative – especially as US campuses now face student repression, visa crackdowns and mounting political interference. Why, then, does the EU remain tethered to an alliance that increasingly undermines its values and interests? The truth is that Europe is not yet politically sovereign. It lacks a unified economy, military, tax system and labour market. From north to south, east to west, the continent is fragmented – linguistically, culturally and politically. In a 2017 speech at the Sorbonne, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke of 'European sovereignty'. But that is precisely what Europe still lacks: the ability to evaluate its interests independently and form alliances accordingly. Until that sovereignty becomes reality, any talk of shifting alliances – however urgent – remains largely theoretical. China is prepared for a new era of cooperation. Europe, paralysed by internal division and outdated loyalties, is not. Yet Trump's United States is doing everything it can to make the eventual choice for Europe clearer by the day. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump extends deadline for TikTok sale by 90 days
President Donald Trump announced Thursday he had given social media platform TikTok another 90 days to find a non-Chinese buyer or be banned in the United States. "I've just signed the Executive Order extending the Deadline for the TikTok closing for 90 days (September 17, 2025)," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, putting off the ban for the third time. A federal law requiring TikTok's sale or ban on national security grounds was due to take effect the day before Trump's January inauguration. The Republican, whose 2024 election campaign relied heavily on social media, has previously said he is fond of the video-sharing app. "I have a little warm spot in my heart for TikTok," Trump said in an NBC News interview in early May. "If it needs an extension, I would be willing to give it an extension." TikTok on Thursday welcomed Trump's decision. "We are grateful for President Trump's leadership and support in ensuring that TikTok continues to be available for more than 170 million American users," the platform said in a statement. - Digital Cold War? - Motivated by a belief in Washington that TikTok is controlled by the Chinese government, the ban took effect on January 19, one day before Trump's inauguration, with ByteDance having made no attempt to find a suitor. TikTok "has become a symbol of the US-China tech rivalry; a flashpoint in the new Cold War for digital control," said Shweta Singh, an assistant professor of information systems at Warwick Business School in Britain. Trump had long supported a ban or divestment, but reversed his position and vowed to defend the platform -- which boasts almost two billion global users -- after coming to believe it helped him win young voters' support in the November election. The president announced an initial 75-day delay of the ban upon taking office. A second extension pushed the deadline to June 19. He said in May that a group of purchasers was ready to pay TikTok owner ByteDance "a lot of money" for the video-clip-sharing sensation's US operations. Trump knows that TikTok is "wildly popular" in the United States, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday, when asked about the latest extension. "He also wants to protect Americans' data and privacy concerns on this app, and he believes we can do both things at the same time." The president is "just not motivated to do anything about TikTok," said independent analyst Rob Enderle. "Unless they get on his bad side, TikTok is probably going to be in pretty good shape." - Tariff turmoil - Trump said in April that China would have agreed to a deal on the sale of TikTok if it were not for a dispute over his tariffs on Beijing. ByteDance has confirmed talks with the US government, saying key matters needed to be resolved and that any deal would be "subject to approval under Chinese law." Possible solutions reportedly include seeing existing US investors in ByteDance roll over their stakes into a new independent global TikTok company. Additional US investors, including Oracle and private equity firm Blackstone, would be brought on to reduce ByteDance's share in the new TikTok. Much of TikTok's US activity is already housed on Oracle servers, and the company's chairman, Larry Ellison, is a longtime Trump ally. Uncertainty remains, particularly over what would happen to TikTok's valuable algorithm. "TikTok without its algorithm is like Harry Potter without his wand -- it's simply not as powerful," said Kelsey Chickering, principal analyst at Forrester. Despite the turmoil, TikTok has been continuing with business as usual. The platform on Monday introduced a new "Symphony" suite of generative artificial intelligence tools for advertisers to turn words or photos into video snippets for the platform. dw/aha/ksb/acb Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
