This pattern of coercion has three aspects and it starts with Huawei. Here, the intention was to exclude the company from government business and by extension from non-government business. The intention was to drive them out of the global market and in the process destroy the company.
Software and games developers, exporters, logistics chain managers and payment gateway providers are all watching the TikTok and WeChat bans in the US with trepidation and horror. These bans come on top of the long-running campaign against Chinese telecom giant Huawei. These cannot be considered in isolation as they now form a pattern of behaviour that threatens every foreign business operation in the US.
It also moves a long way along the path where software will need to be developed for China and another version developed for countries dominated by US protocols. It is a step along the path where everyday companies will be forced to use different cross border currency transfer systems to be able to complete international business. The real danger is that the system may be both exclusive and, on one side at least, sanctionable.
