Winton Dong dht0620@126.com U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday gave Microsoft and TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance a deadline of Sept. 20 to complete the deal of selling TikTok’s U.S. business to Microsoft; otherwise, the Chinese video-sharing app would be banned from operating in the United States. Trump astonished the world earlier by saying that he would approve the contract only if the U.S. Treasury Department gets part of the money from the deal because his government made the deal possible. The president used only some vague statements and a groundless “national security” risk claim as excuses to suppress the Chinese high-tech company. Actually, TikTok is not the first Chinese tech company or the last one to be targeted by the Trump administration. Trump on Thursday also issued a similar executive order against the Chinese instant messaging platform WeChat. In the context of the rhetoric calling for U.S.-China decoupling, the U.S. Government will continue to use this kind of negative publicity strategy to trump up the “threat” from Chinese technology. Therefore, many Chinese enterprises are now under unwarranted scrutiny just because of their Chinese origin. The U.S. previously took similar actions against Chinese companies such as ZTE and Huawei, but Huawei had never really entered the U.S. market. In contrast, TikTok is warmly welcomed and has been downloaded in the U.S. more than 100 million times. Such a U.S. “mafia” policy is in fact double-edged. It will not only hurt foreign companies and halt their development in the United States, but also tarnish the image of the country as a free, open and democratic nation. Moreover, as it is a huge departure from the norms of a market economy, it will surely reduce the market confidence in the U.S. and damage America’s own interests. Foreign investors will be reluctant to further invest in the U.S. if they know a president is ready and able to zap the value of their investments by forcing sales of companies or operations. Meanwhile, if the wanton action by the U.S. Government continues, other countries could take similar or even harsher measures against any American enterprise using a similar unfounded pretext of national security. TikTok is an independently operated company. All of the information of users of its U.S. operation is stored in the United States and its executives have invited U.S. third-party audit firms to analyze its data security. The app has also been used by famous media outlets such as Washington Post. TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is heavily criticized by Chinese social media for quickly entering into talks to sell its U.S. operations without dignity. Critics say if the company believes that it has always followed the U.S. market principles and abided by local laws, rules and regulations, it has sufficient reasons to stand its ground and take up legal means to safeguard its legitimate rights, since the forced selling will set a dangerous precedence, motivating other countries to follow suit and spark a chain reaction. The incident may also serve as an alarm call for other Chinese companies and propel them to adjust their overseas development strategies and find more alternative markets in the rest of the world. The Chinese Government surely wants bilateral relations with the United States to get back on the right track. However, such normalized ties should be based on mutual trust and mutual respect, not based on begging and any illusions. While hoping for the best, China must prepare for the worst. On the one hand, the Chinese Government should continue to be committed to its reform and opening-up policies. On the other hand, amid the most complicated bilateral situation since China and the United States established diplomatic ties in 1979, China should take pains to reaffirm and strengthen its dual-circulation development pattern, meaning the country’s growth will rely on both domestic and international economic development, with the domestic cycle being the main driving force. (The author is the editor-in-chief of Shenzhen Daily with a Ph.D. from the Journalism and Communication School of Wuhan University.) | 