[Global Times reporter Ni Hao] The negative impact of the US government's suppression of WeChat on American companies in China is being verified. A survey released on the 26th shows that American companies in Shanghai believe that the WeChat ban will seriously affect their competitiveness and income. . In response, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian stated on the 27th that some US politicians abused national power under the guise of “national security” to unreasonably suppress non-US companies. This "piracy" has already caused damage to the rights and interests of consumers and enterprises in all countries, including the United States, and will surely be opposed and resisted by the international community.
According to a Reuters report on the 27th, the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai launched an investigation into its members this week, asking if the WeChat ban applies to American companies and American citizens in China, what impact will it have on companies? Among the 142 respondents, 88% believed that the inability to use WeChat would have a negative impact on company operations; 56.3% expected the company to lose competitiveness; more than 40% believed that the WeChat ban would Its revenue has a negative impact; more than one-third of respondents expect the company's global revenue to suffer losses. In addition, 88% of the respondents said that they use WeChat as the main tool for communicating with employees; 78% of the respondents use WeChat for company marketing; more than 36% of the respondents said they have a partnership with WeChat parent company Tencent . Ji Kaiwen, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, said in an interview with CNN on the 26th: "For American companies in China, losing the ability to use the WeChat platform is an existential threat."
On August 6, U.S. President Trump signed an executive order on the grounds of "national security" that would prohibit any company or individual under U.S. jurisdiction from conducting any transactions with TikTok's parent company Bytedance after 45 days, or Conducting WeChat-related transactions with Tencent and its subsidiaries. But so far the Trump administration has not elaborated on the types of transactions affected. The American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai stated in a report that more than 70% of the companies surveyed said that if the executive order is limited to transactions within the United States, it will have little or no impact on their income.
Some US politicians’ “hunting” of non-US companies, including WeChat, is essentially imposing ideological bias on non-US companies. It is an organized and systematic approach to non-US companies that have achieved leading advantages in a certain field. Economic bullying. At a regular press conference on the 27th, Zhao Lijian stated that this approach denies the market economy and fair competition principles that the United States has always advertised, tramples on international rules, and undermines the exchanges and cooperation of scientific and technological innovation among countries under the wave of globalization. In the eyes of these people, the so-called "Internet liberalization" is nothing more than "Internet Americanization"; the so-called "national security" is nothing but a synonym for "American double standards." Zhao Lijian emphasized that some US politicians put their own political and private interests above market principles and international rules, putting the global Internet in danger. The international community has long seen this behavior clearly.