Trump orders ban on transactions with eight more Chinese apps
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order barring transactions with eight Chinese apps, including Alipay and WeChat Pay, to protect national security, citing India's step to ban more than 200 China-linked software applications. Trump's order said that action must be taken to address the threat posed by applications linked to China. The ban will come into effect in 45 days from Tuesday.
Which applications have been banned?
The ban is against Alipay, CamScanner, QQ Wallet, SHAREit, Tencent QQ, VMate, WeChat Pay, and WPS Office. "The pace and pervasiveness of the spread in the US of certain connected mobile and desktop applications and other software developed or controlled by China, including Hong Kong and Macau, continue to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the US," Trump said.
Trump cited India's ban on Chinese software applications
Trump had banned TikTok and the main WeChat app in August. Citing India's ban on the use of more than 200 software applications linked to China, Trump said, "India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology asserted that the applications were stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users' data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India."
Trump accuses Chinese apps of stealing data
The US has asserted that such applications automatically capture sensitive personally identifiable information and private information from millions of users in the United States, which would allow the Chinese Army and the Chinese Community Party (CCP) access to Americans' personal and proprietary information. Trump said that the US must take aggressive action against the developers or controllers of these applications to protect national security.
Other accusations leveled by Trump against these apps
Trump added that the data collection would permit the Chinese to track locations of federal employees and contractors and build dossiers of personal information. "The activity of the People's Republic of China and the CCP to steal or obtain US persons' data makes clear that there is an intent to use bulk data collection to advance China's economic and national security agenda," Trump said.
