(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)
By Robyn Mak
HONG KONG, April 29 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Xi Jinping can sit out the fight for TikTok. The countdown has started for ByteDance to divest its short-video app in the United States, or face a ban. But fears of retaliation by the Chinese president look overblown. The social media network isn't strategic enough.
Lawmakers in Washington justified the legislation they passed last week by labelling TikTok, which claims 170 million American users, a national security threat. Meanwhile, Beijing accuses the U.S. government of acting like a bandit and vows to "take all necessary measures" to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.
Just how far Xi will go to protect the overseas interest of his country's companies is unclear, however. Years of U.S. tariffs, sanctions and trade restrictions targeting goods and companies from the People's Republic, including domestic telecoms-to-chips darling Huawei, have prompted varying degrees of responses. Those ranged from banning products made by U.S. memory-chip maker Micron Technology to imposing export controls on metals widely used in semiconductors to sanctioning a handful of U.S. defense firms.
ByteDance is no Huawei however. Its addictive apps such as Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, are not a priority for economic planners in the world's second largest economy. They are focused on cultivating champions in green energy, electric vehicles, semiconductors and artificial intelligence - sectors they hope will propel the nation's slowing growth.
Xi himself is also cracking down on screen time. Currently, those under 18 years old are only allowed one hour of online games a day between Friday and Sunday and on holidays; internet platforms have to limit how much time and money children spend on their apps. Douyin restricts teenagers in China to just 40 minutes a day.
Ultimately, Beijing is unlikely to give its approval to ByteDance for a sale, and ByteDance might prefer to shut down the app in the U.S. over giving up valuable algorithms that power its core business.
Chinese officials may use Washington's slapdown as leverage in future bilateral discussions, but the economy is also vulnerable. That may explain why Beijing has not lashed out against American businesses such as Apple and Tesla
present in the country. Xi can reasonably conclude that defending TikTok isn't worth it.
Follow @mak_robyn on X
CONTEXT NEWS
President Joe Biden on April 24 signed legislation that would require China's ByteDance to divest TikTok's U.S. operations within 270 days, with a possible three-month extension, or face a ban.
TikTok's chief executive Shou Zi Chew said in a video posted on April 24 the company expects to win a legal challenge to block the legislation.
If all legal options to ban the platform fail, parent ByteDance would prefer to shut down TikTok rather than sell it, Reuters reported on April 25, citing people familiar with the matter.
The Chinese government has signalled to ByteDance that it would rather the app be banned in the U.S. than be sold, the Wall Street Journal reported in March, citing people familiar with the matter.
(Editing by Una Galani and Katrina Hamlin)
((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on robyn.mak@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: robyn.mak.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Comments