U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he walks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Dec. 12, 2020.
A recent executive order signed by President Donald Trump to sanction Chinese tech e-commerce platforms is considered a “litmus test” of Biden’s future policy toward China. Experts in the US think tank believe that Trump’s move is to give Biden a timing device to test Biden’s China policy.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 5 banning transactions with eight Chinese apps, including Alipay and WeChat Pay. Trump said the platforms have helped “the Chinese government steal or otherwise gain access to the data of Americans” and threaten U.S. national security interests. The executive order will take effect 45 days after its signature.
In doing so, Trump set a timing device for the Biden administration to “tie Biden’s hands and feet.” Timothy R.Heath, a senior fellow at the RAND Corporation, a leading U.S. think tank, told VOA.
He said the executive order is consistent with the Trump administration’s strategy of comprehensively cracking down on the Chinese Communist Party and is a test of the Biden administration’s China policy.
He also said that blocking apps such as Alipay would affect only a tiny number of Americans. “These are mainly Chinese-Americans trying to do business with mainland China.”
China expert Scott Kristin of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), another American think tank, said: “We have a lot of ideas. Scott Kennedy agrees.
Kennedy told the Wall Street Journal that one purpose of Trump’s new executive order appears to be “to make it difficult for the Biden administration to change its policy direction once it takes office.”
For nearly a year, the Trump administration has cracked down on state-owned enterprises owned by the Communist Party and those linked to the military. It has also imposed restrictions on state-backed high-tech and e-commerce companies. This has been a powerful blow to the Communist Party, with senior officials openly calling for a solution to the problem of “choking” technology.
Analysts had widely expected Trump to take more action against the Chinese Communist Party before the end of his first term. The US Secretary of State announced Tuesday that the US ambassador to the United Nations will visit Taiwan, another blow to the Communist Party of China.
The U.S. Congress certified Biden’s election on January 6, and Trump promised an orderly transition of power. But he insists the election was fraudulent and that he will not attend the inauguration on January 20th.
How Biden will deal with the Trump administration’s China policy after taking office has raised concerns. Biden will keep restrictions on huawei and other Chinese tech companies in place, but may ease or revoke restrictions on some Chinese software applications, according to RAND Corp. ‘s Mr. Ho.
Trump’s earlier executive order targeting TikTok and WeChat has been temporarily suspended by the courts. The latest executive order is also expected to be less effective.
In addition, the Biden transition team had earlier announced that Biden would suspend and review executive orders issued late in the White House by Trump that would not take effect until after he leaves office.
Recent Comments