TikTok, Huawei, and the US-China tech arms race

“When the Chinese get good at something, all of the sudden, the United States says, ‘This is a national security risk.’”

That’s what Shaun Rein, founder and managing director of the China Market Research Group, argued on GZERO World with Ian Bremmer while discussing the increasingly hostile geopolitical environment between the two superpowers.

Rein points to things like 5G technology and TikTok as examples of Chinese technological innovation that comes into America’s crosshairs when US-China relations sour. Not only are companies like Huawei banned, he says, but the US also pushes its allies like the UK and Australia to ban them as well.

“There’s a sword of Damocles hanging over TikTok and all Chinese apps,” Rein argues, “No matter what TikTok does, simply because China is run by the Communist Party, it’s automatically guilty until proven innocent.”

Is the technology arms race between the US and China becoming a geopolitical tit for tat? Has trust between the two countries soured too deeply to repair?

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