India and Geopolitics of TikTok

Context:  India’s digital war against China’s aggression has acquired a global dimension.

USA’s Digital War Against China

• TikTok is now at the center of a rapidly expanding digital war between the United States and China.
• USA too is citing national security concerns about the widespread use of Chinese apps.
• USA is persuading TikTok to hand over its business to the US technology giant, Microsoft. 
• The political salience of the US president’s strike against TikTok. 
• Microsoft’s commercial interest in increasing its social media space.
• USA is persuading its allies to abandon Chinese telecom companies Huawei and ZTE.

Nexus between the USA Companies and China

• US companies are reluctant to abandon the Chinese market.
• US companies obligations under the Foreign Agents Registration Act demand that lobbyists register themselves with the US government. 

Arguments in Favour of USA’s Digital War

• New rules are now emerging to define the terms of US-China engagement.
• Return of bipartisan US political support for industrial policy.
• Industrial policy as a means to cope with external and internal economic challenges to the US.
• USA’s effort to lead the Nation’s technological and economic evolution. 
• USA’s support for producing generic drugs and pharmaceutical ingredients. 

Conclusion: The new American consensus appears to be in sync with India’s recent turn towards economic decoupling from China.