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Original title: United States Wants to Start Ali and Tencent Payment Platforms, Ant Group Responds
[文/观察者网 龙玥]As the US elections approach, the Trump administration has again moved to look at Chinese giants Alibaba and Tencent.
According to a Bloomberg report on the 7th, due to alleged “national security” concerns, the Trump administration is considering restrictions on the payment platforms of Ali’s Ant Group and Tencent. People familiar with the matter said that in recent weeks, senior White House officials are speeding up internal discussions on how and whether to implement relevant restrictions, but this has yet to be finalized.
The report noted that Ant Group stated in a statement that the company was not aware of any discussions related to the US government. Currently, Tencent has yet to respond to this. Communications staff from the US Department of State and Treasury, the Office of the US Trade Representative, and the Department of Commerce have yet to respond to this.
Report screenshot: United States is considering restricting Ant Group, Tencent payment systemTwo people familiar with the matter revealed to Bloomberg that senior US officials met at the White House on September 30 to discuss the idea of imposing restrictions on Ali and Tencent. Some officials are concerned that Ant Group and other payment platforms in China may dominate the global digital payment system.
According to the report, the idea to restrict Chinese companies this time comes from those American officials who are tough on China, especially in the State Department headed by the US Secretary of State.
However, unexpectedly, the president of the United States, Trump, was infected with the new corona virus, which disrupted the pace of these officials. People familiar with the matter said Trump was feeling unwell about the new corona virus a day after these officials met. So, in the next few days, there was no progress on this matter. Furthermore, there is no indication that the idea of this matter has been presented to Trump.
At the same time, officials acknowledged that this measure will be difficult to implement until the relevant mechanisms are discovered. These officials also found it difficult to find a reasonable legal basis. Officials believe that action is unlikely to be taken before the Nov. 3 elections, and they are also concerned that the court may reverse these actions.
Bloomberg speculates that these officials may have three potential options if the restrictions are implemented.
On the one hand, they may choose to use the authority granted by an executive order in 2019 to protect the digital supply chain (to implement related restrictions), but the process can be time consuming.
Second, a faster way is for Trump to draft a new executive order, much like the previous restrictions on Tencent’s TikTok and WeChat. But this method faces legal risks. For example, the US court recently ordered the suspension of the US government’s download ban on TikTok and other Chinese apps.
Third, a more destructive method: Ant Group and Tencent are listed by the United States government as specially designated countries by the United States Department of the Treasury.
Regarding the motives of US officials for this action, Bloomberg analyzed that as the current general election approaches, the Trump administration can choose (before the election): impose as many restrictions as possible on China and hope that some restrictions continue.
Furthermore, reports state that this move may affect Ant Group’s recent initial public offering (IPO), which is expected to become the world’s largest IPO in 2020. Ant Group is currently promoting the company’s listing process. . As a subsidiary of Ali, the company’s valuation can reach $ 250 billion after the IPO, twice that of Citigroup.
However, Alibaba said that the company’s business is mainly concentrated in China. The same goes for Tencent’s payment platform business.
“Any action by Washington may not affect the company’s e-commerce and retail business in China.” CNN noted in August that even the sanctions on Alibaba’s cloud business in the US Minimal, because cloud services account for less than 10% of Alibaba’s total revenue.
For some time, the United States has abused its national power and has unreasonably suppressed TikTok, WeChat, and other apps from China. This is also the usual tactic of the US government. In the past, the US also imposed sanctions on Japan’s Toshiba (TOSHIBA) and France’s Alstom (ALSTOM).
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying tweeted on October 7 that “court orders, sanctions, arrests … ignoring allies or no allies. Toshiba in 1987. Alstom in 2014. Now Huawei, TikTok , WeChat. Who’s next? “
Twitter screenshotOn September 28, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin noted: China has consistently opposed the American generalization of national security concepts, the abuse of national power, and the unreasonable suppression of harassment by companies of other countries. We expect the US to truly respect the market economy and principles of fair competition, abide by international economic and trade standards, and provide a fair, open, and nondiscriminatory business environment for companies around the world to invest and operate in the United States.
