The logo of TikTok is seen on a smartphone screen in Arlington, Virginia, the United States, Aug. 30, 2020. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

DIGITAL GOVERNANCE

Experts have pointed out that U.S. moves concerning TikTok serve the administration's political interest, and the same purpose is hidden in Washington's recently-hyped "Clean Network" program.

According to the five lines of effort under the program, Washington will seek to remove "untrusted" Chinese apps such as TikTok and WeChat from U.S. mobile app stores, among others, to "protect America's critical telecommunications and technology infrastructure."

"The actions against TikTok and WeChat are to weaken China's role in the global digital economy generally, mainly for geopolitical reasons," Jeffrey Sachs, an economics professor at Columbia University and a senior United Nations advisor, told Xinhua.

"Of course there is a link with Trump's white evangelical electoral base, which is anti-foreign in general, and is now strongly anti-Chinese, as exemplified by Pompeo," Sachs said, referring to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whose recent anti-China speech has drawn wide criticism.

The U.S.' actions have fundamentally violated the inherent law of technological development, run counter to the trend and direction of digital economy development, and are harming the common interests of the global community, including China and the United States, said Shen Yi, a scholar on global cyberspace governance at China's Fudan University.

Zuo Xiaodong, vice president of the China Information Security Research Institute, said the U.S.' moves reveal the intention to purge Chinese high-tech companies, cripple China's competitiveness, and contain China's development.

"The international community should form a consensus on data security as soon as possible," Zuo said, expressing hope that a set of "fair and reasonable" international rules on data security could be formed to prevent some Western countries from seizing data with the help of new technologies.