The US Attorney General Bill Barr recently accused the big three of the tech industry — Apple, Google and Microsoft — of being too close to China. This comes at a time when the Trump administration has been openly discussing a plan to ban the popular social media app TikTok, owned by the Beijing-based company ByteDance. Following India's ban of the app earlier in the month.
The US and China have been engaged in a trade war for the better part of the last three years. This has resulted in trade tariffs and sanctions on Chinese companies, including Huawei, a company that the US government has suggested is a competitive threat to American companies, as well as a national security threat to the country, due to its close relationship with the Chinese Communist Party. The accusation that China has been "ripping off" the US has been a Trump talking point ever since the 2016 election campaign, although the narrative has escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic for which, China has also been blamed by the Trump administration.
Due to the general increase in China claims, the accusations recently detailed by The Washington Post are not surprising. Besides accusing tech companies of being too close to the Chinese Communist Party, the recent comments by Attorney General Barr claimed that the companies are all too willing to help expand China's influence in the US, in return for greater access to the Chinese market for their own products and services. Barr also accused the companies of helping the CCP in its cracking down on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
A Closer Look At Bill Barr's Accusations
Barr pointed out that Apple removed VPN apps from the App Store that protesters were using to circumvent the Chinese government's firewall. In addition, that American corporate leaders who run companies such as Google, Apple and Microsoft, are only interested in short-term profits, while the CCP thinks in terms of decades and is aiming for technological supremacy. Barr warns business leaders that the ultimate aim of Chinese companies is to replace their American counterparts. While also accusing the party of forcing business leaders in the US to unwittingly lobby US lawmakers for favorable policies. This, Barr says, could be violating the 'Foreign Agents Registration Act' which requires agents or lobbyists of foreign institutions to register with the US Department of Justice.
While it is true that China is expanding it's economic influence around the world, as of now Chinese companies are not a direct threat to US transnational corporations, like Apple, Disney and Google. Huawei, the second biggest phone manufacturer in the world, is the closest to joining the ranks of these companies. However, rigorous sanctions against Huawei by the US, and other countries, especially in buying or manufacturing chips, means the Chinese tech giant is having a tough time competing. If Barr is really worried about American companies losing their market place to foreign equivalents, then Samsung, one of the biggest tech companies in the world, is a far better candidate. Samsung is Apple and Google's biggest rival, and could be viewed as an aggressive rival, considering it has previously been accused of employing unfair tactics, and found guilty of patent infringement against Apple, as The Verge previously reported.
Overall, the Attorney General's accusations that US companies, like many other foreign companies operating in China, might have to appease the Communist Party is true. However, the observation that Chinese companies will eventually replace US tech giants is currently a bit more far-fetched. Considering the nature of the tech industry, and how dynamic companies like Apple and Google are, it would be hard to imagine them getting dethroned anytime soon.
Source: DoJ