The standoff over the US business of video platform TikTok is approaching its big showdown. Once again, Elon Musk is in the spotlight. The US authorities’ forced sale of the subsidiary of the Chinese ByteDance empire could culminate in the tech billionaire taking over the billion-dollar network. In any case, Beijing campaigns for Musk to be the buyer.
This has prompted critics who see the potential market power of the X boss as a threat to American citizens’ data security. They even fear a threat to US national security, saying Musk’s business interests are too great for him to snub Beijing. Would he be willing to make concessions to China when it comes to data security or algorithm priorities? Jörn Petring and Liu Yi took a look at the situation for us.
Meanwhile, Julia Fiedler takes a look at Southeast Asia for us. The background to the capture of a Chinese actor in Thailand reveals the machinations of criminal gangs. Using deception and false promises, they procure people for an illegal online industry that is expanding massively in the border regions. The Golden Triangle is experiencing a digital renaissance that has turned human trafficking into a lucrative business.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk enjoys a high reputation among China’s elite. In the past few years, he has done quite a lot, in addition to his gigantic Tesla factory in Shanghai, to make the Chinese government happy. His comments on the status of Taiwan as an “integral part” of the People’s Republic of China and his description of the US and Chinese economies as “conjoined twins” play into China’s interests.
The fact that Chinese authorities now want to sell the US business of the video platform TikTok to Musk, of all people, is explosive news. TikTok is a product of the Chinese internet company ByteDance and has been a bone of contention in the USA for years – vilified as a Beijing propaganda tool, espionage instrument and threat to national security.
According to Bloomberg, a scenario apparently being discussed in Beijing would see Musk’s company X (formerly Twitter) take control of TikTok USA and merge the two businesses. It would be remarkable if Musk were to acquire TikTok with Beijing’s blessing – for multiple reasons.
TikTok possesses a massive amount of user data, especially from young people. Combined with Musk’s access to data through X, this could lead to unprecedented data power, which could potentially be exploited. With over 170 million US users, TikTok could lure advertisers to X. Moreover, Musk’s AI company xAI could benefit from the enormous amounts of data generated by TikTok.
Is this already a cause for concern because Musk advocates freedom of speech in any form and could not put a stop to Chinese narratives on his platforms? Especially as he would hardly want to damage his good relations with the Chinese leadership, considering China is one of Tesla’s biggest sales markets.
Musk is believed to have made a provision that would regulate US investment in China removed from a funding bill at the US Congress, passed towards the end of 2024. This triggered calls in the US for investigations into the billionaire’s ties with China and requiring him to disclose his meetings with Chinese leaders.
In a widely cited opinion article by a retired US lieutenant general, Musk is accused of being a national security risk on the ground that his business dealings with China “could require him to hand over sensitive classified information, learned either through his business interests or his proximity to President-elect Donald Trump.” Given the fact that Musk’s SpaceX now has a near monopoly of US rocket launches and its subsidiary Starlink serves as a major global internet service provider, the risk must be taken seriously, writes Russel Honoré.
China plays a crucial role in Musk’s business empire both as the world’s biggest car market and as the host of the biggest Tesla plant. Despite declining global sales, Tesla’s sales in China rose 8.8 percent to a record high of 660,000 cars last year. Half of all Tesla cars are produced in the company’s Gigafactory in Shanghai. China, a vast country with complicated road conditions and high-intensity traffic, is also a perfect testing ground for Tesla’s self-driving technology. In addition, with rich reserves of raw materials for EV batteries, such as lithium, China is a key player in the supply chain for EV batteries.
Tesla was the first foreign car manufacturer to be given the green light to operate a wholly-owned factory in China. All others had to enter into a joint venture with a Chinese partner. With the Chinese government’s strong support, Tesla spent only one year running through the cycle from obtaining administrative approval to completing factory construction, which was exceptionally quick.
Among the Chinese government officials Musk has met in recent years are Premier Li Qiang, former Foreign Minister Qin Gang and Commerce Minister Wang Wentao. The Chinese state media reported extensively on every official visit by Musk. Like in many other places in the world, Musk is taken by the Chinese public as an idol. His mother, Maye Musk, who works as a model, is also extremely popular in the country. She visits the country frequently and has been interviewed by China’s top TV program hosts.
Bloomberg stressed that no final decision has yet been made, and it is unclear whether Musk wants to buy TikTok. It is also unclear how much ByteDance knows about the Chinese government’s internal deliberations and whether TikTok or Musk are already involved in the talks.
There has also been no known contact between Musk, TikTok, and ByteDance regarding possible terms. Musk last spoke about TikTok on X in April: “In my opinion, TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the X platform. Doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression. It is not what America stands for.”
Now that Musk is more actively involved in US politics and commenting on politics in other countries, it is fair to ask whether he would be interested in serving as a mediator for US-China relations or whether he has already been working secretly in this role. Would he be able to make Trump soften his China policy? At what price? Or would he eventually burn his fingers? The stake is high, both for Sino-US relations and for his own companies, and the repercussions could be massive.
Beijing would undoubtedly prefer Musk to US property developer Frank McCourt, who has expressed an interest in buying TikTok. Last year, the 71-year-old said he wanted to turn the platform into a “new and better version of the internet.” His ideal vision of this internet would be to give the individual more respect and empower them to control their identity and data.
TikTok is facing a crucial deadline this week. By January 19, 2025, the Chinese parent company ByteDance must sell the US division of the popular video app if it wants to avoid a ban in the USA. President-elect Trump has asked the Supreme Court to delay the law’s implementation to have time for a political solution once he takes office on January 20.
However, the approaching deadline saw two other Chinese apps storm to the top of the download lists in the US. Xiaohongshu, called Rednote in the US, and Lemon8, also from ByteDance, climbed to the top of the iPhone app store, partly because US influencers called on their followers to make the switch. The rise in popularity had already begun two years ago when the discussion about TikTok picked up pace. However, this momentum is new. Although Xiaohongshu’s interface is largely in Mandarin, some Chinese and US app users have already started bonding. One even declared: “If the US government is worried about China accessing our personal data, we might as well hand it over directly.” Jörn Petring/Liu Yi
Following the abduction of an actor, Chinese embassies in Thailand and Myanmar have been warning about scams that lure citizens abroad with supposedly high salaries and free flights and accommodation.
The warning was prompted by the case of actor Wang Xing, who disappeared near the border between Thailand and Myanmar in early January after being lured there by human traffickers. They had posed as film producers and offered Wang three times the usual pay.
According to the Chinese state-run Global Times, the kidnappers shaved Wang’s head and forced him and at least 50 other prisoners to undergo several days of training, which was apparently intended to teach them how to quickly carry out typing tasks on a computer. However, the exact purpose of this remained unclear. The circumstances that led to the actor’s freedom were also not described in detail.
What is known, however, is that the border regions between Myanmar, Laos and Thailand have become hubs for online crime. Cyberscams have long been a problem in Southeast Asia, especially in the poorer states of Laos and Myanmar, but also in Cambodia. Where tons of heroin and amphetamines used to be smuggled for the international market and the myth of the Golden Triangle was born, a network of organized crime structures has now formed which – in addition to drug trafficking – specializes in online fraud, money laundering through illegal online gambling and digital shadow banking.
Organized gangs have taken advantage of the ideal constellation of less strictly regulated special economic zones, technological innovations and the geographical location along the Mekong to expand massively in recent years. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) raised the alarm some time ago, noting the development of scalable and digitalized solutions had fostered a criminal business climate in Southeast Asia and created numerous new opportunities for crime.
The UN estimates that around 120,000 people are being held against their will in Myanmar and 100,000 in Cambodia. The victims are forced by their captors to use various scam methods to lure other people to Southeast Asia to work for the gangs. High ransoms are extorted from the victims’ families. Some of the well-connected criminal groups are said to originate from China.
The governments of the countries involved, including Beijing, have so far tried unsuccessfully to crack down on these centers. So-called “fraud gardens” have existed for around a decade in north-eastern Myanmar and along the border between Myanmar and Thailand, including in the town of Myawaddy, where actor Wang had disappeared.
Human trafficking of Chinese citizens in Southeast Asia has been a hot topic in China’s social media over the past week. Among other things, discussions revolved around the forces behind organized crime and whether the Chinese government can protect its citizens. Despite the curtailment of certain civil liberties of its citizens, ensuring the personal safety of Chinese citizens, including when staying or traveling abroad, is an important concern for Beijing.
After his release, Chinese media quoted actor Wang correspondingly exuberantly. At this moment, I have returned to the embrace of my homeland – a place that makes me feel warmth, security and freedom,” he wrote. Wang credited China’s strength for giving him courage and hope during the ordeal.
The criminals are not only targeting Chinese citizens. Last year, South Korean authorities also voiced concern after registering an increase in recruitment attempts by criminal networks in Laos. Since then, the authorities have banned South Korean nationals from traveling to the Golden Triangle until further notice. The government fears that its citizens in the region could be abducted and used as bait for telephone scams or other illegal activities.
Sinolytics is a research-based business consultancy entirely focused on China. It advises European companies on their strategic orientation and specific business activities in the People’s Republic.
Good news for Swifties in China: The city of Shanghai announced that it is “optimistic” that it will be able to host a Taylor Swift concert this year. According to a report in The Paper, city officials have met with Swift’s staff. Known affectionately as “Meimei” in China, Swift has millions of followers on social media. The picture shows loyal fans at a film premiere of the Taylor Swift Eras Tour in Shanghai in late 2023.
The standoff over the US business of video platform TikTok is approaching its big showdown. Once again, Elon Musk is in the spotlight. The US authorities’ forced sale of the subsidiary of the Chinese ByteDance empire could culminate in the tech billionaire taking over the billion-dollar network. In any case, Beijing campaigns for Musk to be the buyer.
This has prompted critics who see the potential market power of the X boss as a threat to American citizens’ data security. They even fear a threat to US national security, saying Musk’s business interests are too great for him to snub Beijing. Would he be willing to make concessions to China when it comes to data security or algorithm priorities? Jörn Petring and Liu Yi took a look at the situation for us.
Meanwhile, Julia Fiedler takes a look at Southeast Asia for us. The background to the capture of a Chinese actor in Thailand reveals the machinations of criminal gangs. Using deception and false promises, they procure people for an illegal online industry that is expanding massively in the border regions. The Golden Triangle is experiencing a digital renaissance that has turned human trafficking into a lucrative business.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk enjoys a high reputation among China’s elite. In the past few years, he has done quite a lot, in addition to his gigantic Tesla factory in Shanghai, to make the Chinese government happy. His comments on the status of Taiwan as an “integral part” of the People’s Republic of China and his description of the US and Chinese economies as “conjoined twins” play into China’s interests.
The fact that Chinese authorities now want to sell the US business of the video platform TikTok to Musk, of all people, is explosive news. TikTok is a product of the Chinese internet company ByteDance and has been a bone of contention in the USA for years – vilified as a Beijing propaganda tool, espionage instrument and threat to national security.
According to Bloomberg, a scenario apparently being discussed in Beijing would see Musk’s company X (formerly Twitter) take control of TikTok USA and merge the two businesses. It would be remarkable if Musk were to acquire TikTok with Beijing’s blessing – for multiple reasons.
TikTok possesses a massive amount of user data, especially from young people. Combined with Musk’s access to data through X, this could lead to unprecedented data power, which could potentially be exploited. With over 170 million US users, TikTok could lure advertisers to X. Moreover, Musk’s AI company xAI could benefit from the enormous amounts of data generated by TikTok.
Is this already a cause for concern because Musk advocates freedom of speech in any form and could not put a stop to Chinese narratives on his platforms? Especially as he would hardly want to damage his good relations with the Chinese leadership, considering China is one of Tesla’s biggest sales markets.
Musk is believed to have made a provision that would regulate US investment in China removed from a funding bill at the US Congress, passed towards the end of 2024. This triggered calls in the US for investigations into the billionaire’s ties with China and requiring him to disclose his meetings with Chinese leaders.
In a widely cited opinion article by a retired US lieutenant general, Musk is accused of being a national security risk on the ground that his business dealings with China “could require him to hand over sensitive classified information, learned either through his business interests or his proximity to President-elect Donald Trump.” Given the fact that Musk’s SpaceX now has a near monopoly of US rocket launches and its subsidiary Starlink serves as a major global internet service provider, the risk must be taken seriously, writes Russel Honoré.
China plays a crucial role in Musk’s business empire both as the world’s biggest car market and as the host of the biggest Tesla plant. Despite declining global sales, Tesla’s sales in China rose 8.8 percent to a record high of 660,000 cars last year. Half of all Tesla cars are produced in the company’s Gigafactory in Shanghai. China, a vast country with complicated road conditions and high-intensity traffic, is also a perfect testing ground for Tesla’s self-driving technology. In addition, with rich reserves of raw materials for EV batteries, such as lithium, China is a key player in the supply chain for EV batteries.
Tesla was the first foreign car manufacturer to be given the green light to operate a wholly-owned factory in China. All others had to enter into a joint venture with a Chinese partner. With the Chinese government’s strong support, Tesla spent only one year running through the cycle from obtaining administrative approval to completing factory construction, which was exceptionally quick.
Among the Chinese government officials Musk has met in recent years are Premier Li Qiang, former Foreign Minister Qin Gang and Commerce Minister Wang Wentao. The Chinese state media reported extensively on every official visit by Musk. Like in many other places in the world, Musk is taken by the Chinese public as an idol. His mother, Maye Musk, who works as a model, is also extremely popular in the country. She visits the country frequently and has been interviewed by China’s top TV program hosts.
Bloomberg stressed that no final decision has yet been made, and it is unclear whether Musk wants to buy TikTok. It is also unclear how much ByteDance knows about the Chinese government’s internal deliberations and whether TikTok or Musk are already involved in the talks.
There has also been no known contact between Musk, TikTok, and ByteDance regarding possible terms. Musk last spoke about TikTok on X in April: “In my opinion, TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the X platform. Doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression. It is not what America stands for.”
Now that Musk is more actively involved in US politics and commenting on politics in other countries, it is fair to ask whether he would be interested in serving as a mediator for US-China relations or whether he has already been working secretly in this role. Would he be able to make Trump soften his China policy? At what price? Or would he eventually burn his fingers? The stake is high, both for Sino-US relations and for his own companies, and the repercussions could be massive.
Beijing would undoubtedly prefer Musk to US property developer Frank McCourt, who has expressed an interest in buying TikTok. Last year, the 71-year-old said he wanted to turn the platform into a “new and better version of the internet.” His ideal vision of this internet would be to give the individual more respect and empower them to control their identity and data.
TikTok is facing a crucial deadline this week. By January 19, 2025, the Chinese parent company ByteDance must sell the US division of the popular video app if it wants to avoid a ban in the USA. President-elect Trump has asked the Supreme Court to delay the law’s implementation to have time for a political solution once he takes office on January 20.
However, the approaching deadline saw two other Chinese apps storm to the top of the download lists in the US. Xiaohongshu, called Rednote in the US, and Lemon8, also from ByteDance, climbed to the top of the iPhone app store, partly because US influencers called on their followers to make the switch. The rise in popularity had already begun two years ago when the discussion about TikTok picked up pace. However, this momentum is new. Although Xiaohongshu’s interface is largely in Mandarin, some Chinese and US app users have already started bonding. One even declared: “If the US government is worried about China accessing our personal data, we might as well hand it over directly.” Jörn Petring/Liu Yi
Following the abduction of an actor, Chinese embassies in Thailand and Myanmar have been warning about scams that lure citizens abroad with supposedly high salaries and free flights and accommodation.
The warning was prompted by the case of actor Wang Xing, who disappeared near the border between Thailand and Myanmar in early January after being lured there by human traffickers. They had posed as film producers and offered Wang three times the usual pay.
According to the Chinese state-run Global Times, the kidnappers shaved Wang’s head and forced him and at least 50 other prisoners to undergo several days of training, which was apparently intended to teach them how to quickly carry out typing tasks on a computer. However, the exact purpose of this remained unclear. The circumstances that led to the actor’s freedom were also not described in detail.
What is known, however, is that the border regions between Myanmar, Laos and Thailand have become hubs for online crime. Cyberscams have long been a problem in Southeast Asia, especially in the poorer states of Laos and Myanmar, but also in Cambodia. Where tons of heroin and amphetamines used to be smuggled for the international market and the myth of the Golden Triangle was born, a network of organized crime structures has now formed which – in addition to drug trafficking – specializes in online fraud, money laundering through illegal online gambling and digital shadow banking.
Organized gangs have taken advantage of the ideal constellation of less strictly regulated special economic zones, technological innovations and the geographical location along the Mekong to expand massively in recent years. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) raised the alarm some time ago, noting the development of scalable and digitalized solutions had fostered a criminal business climate in Southeast Asia and created numerous new opportunities for crime.
The UN estimates that around 120,000 people are being held against their will in Myanmar and 100,000 in Cambodia. The victims are forced by their captors to use various scam methods to lure other people to Southeast Asia to work for the gangs. High ransoms are extorted from the victims’ families. Some of the well-connected criminal groups are said to originate from China.
The governments of the countries involved, including Beijing, have so far tried unsuccessfully to crack down on these centers. So-called “fraud gardens” have existed for around a decade in north-eastern Myanmar and along the border between Myanmar and Thailand, including in the town of Myawaddy, where actor Wang had disappeared.
Human trafficking of Chinese citizens in Southeast Asia has been a hot topic in China’s social media over the past week. Among other things, discussions revolved around the forces behind organized crime and whether the Chinese government can protect its citizens. Despite the curtailment of certain civil liberties of its citizens, ensuring the personal safety of Chinese citizens, including when staying or traveling abroad, is an important concern for Beijing.
After his release, Chinese media quoted actor Wang correspondingly exuberantly. At this moment, I have returned to the embrace of my homeland – a place that makes me feel warmth, security and freedom,” he wrote. Wang credited China’s strength for giving him courage and hope during the ordeal.
The criminals are not only targeting Chinese citizens. Last year, South Korean authorities also voiced concern after registering an increase in recruitment attempts by criminal networks in Laos. Since then, the authorities have banned South Korean nationals from traveling to the Golden Triangle until further notice. The government fears that its citizens in the region could be abducted and used as bait for telephone scams or other illegal activities.
Sinolytics is a research-based business consultancy entirely focused on China. It advises European companies on their strategic orientation and specific business activities in the People’s Republic.
Good news for Swifties in China: The city of Shanghai announced that it is “optimistic” that it will be able to host a Taylor Swift concert this year. According to a report in The Paper, city officials have met with Swift’s staff. Known affectionately as “Meimei” in China, Swift has millions of followers on social media. The picture shows loyal fans at a film premiere of the Taylor Swift Eras Tour in Shanghai in late 2023.
