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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Xi hints TikTok deal has his blessing – if Trump makes concessions
elsewhere
Analysis by Nectar Gan, Simone McCarthy, CNN
Updated:
2:00 AM EDT, Sat September 20, 2025
Source: CNN
Donald Trump’s with Xi Jinping failed to finalize a to spin off
TikTok’s US operations, but China’s top leader did signal his
blessing for the plan – as long as it aligns with Beijing’s
interests.
At first glance, Beijing’s willingness to play ball on TikTok looks
like a sharp reversal from its years of resistance to relinquishing
control over the viral video app – the first global social media hit
to come out of China.
But rather than bowing to Trump’s pressure campaign, analysts say,
Chinese leaders are using an app cherished by the US president and
millions of Americans as leverage to extract other, far more
consequential concessions.
And judging by comments from Chinese officials and state media on the
reached by the US and China in Madrid this week, Beijing appears intent
on retaining ownership of TikTok’s most prized asset, its algorithm
that has helped the app attract 170 million Americans and more than 1.5
billion users worldwide.
But it raises questions over how that arrangement would comply with the
US law on TikTok, which explicitly precludes any cooperation concerning
“the operation of a content recommendation algorithm.”
On Friday, Trump that he and Xi had “approved the TikTok deal”
following a nearly two-hour call. But Beijing offered little to suggest
the deal is finalized, instead signaling it remained very much a work
in progress.
The Chinese readout quoted Xi as telling Trump that Beijing “would be
happy to see productive commercial negotiations in keeping with market
rules lead to a solution that complies with China’s laws and
regulations and takes into account the interests of both sides.”
Xi also asked the US to “refrain from imposing unilateral trade
restrictions” and to “provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory
environment for Chinese investors,” according to the readout released
by China’s Foreign Ministry.
It remains unclear what Beijing gained in return for green-lighting
negotiations over the sale of TikTok – one of the biggest global
success stories of its rising tech industry. The app, owned by Chinese
company ByteDance, is not available in China – a heavily censored
market where its sister app Douyin dominates.
According to the Chinese readout of the Madrid talks, the “basic
framework consensus” agreed by both sides on TikTok also covered
“reducing investment barriers and advancing relevant economic and
trade cooperation.”
‘Bigger fishes to fry’
Chinese leaders are well aware of Trump’s desire to keep TikTok
running in the US. Since returning to the White House, he has
repeatedly extended the deadline to ban the wildly popular app –
which he credits with helping him win over young voters in last
year’s presidential election – despite being the one who first
started the yearslong effort to shut it down during his first term.
“Given Trump’s 180-degree turn and now, blatantly political
self-interest-fueled interest in owning TikTok, Beijing has most likely
deftly leveraged an app that matters much less to its political
establishment than it does the MAGA movement core to secure
concessions,” said Brian Wong, an assistant professor at the
University of Hong Kong.
Those concessions could include the US easing semiconductor export
controls, investment restrictions – especially with regard to Chinese
capital entering the US – and potentially tariffs on China, he added.
“In short, the Chinese state has appropriated the TikTok issue as a
bargaining chip to secure more advantageous concessions in other policy
domains,” Wong said.
Beijing’s willingness to cooperate on TikTok showcased its
flexibility in dealing with the mercurial Trump and the fluctuating
state of bilateral ties, experts say.
“Beijing’s earlier comment on a forced sale of TikTok came in the
backdrop of a negative perception of US-China relations under Trump
2.0,” said Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Stimson
Center think tank in Washington.
But that backdrop has changed significantly, she said.
“Now Beijing sees the opportunity to improve the relations with US
and TikTok suddenly shifted from a ‘matter of principle’ to a
matter that is negotiable. There are bigger fishes to fry,” Sun
added.
Beijing, which once denounced Trump’s first-term bid to force a
TikTok sale as “,” is now portraying the latest deal as “mutually
beneficial,” stressing that it respects corporate will and market
principles.
“China reached the relevant consensus with the United States on the
TikTok issue because it is based on the principles of mutual respect,
peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation,” the People’s Daily,
the ruling Communist Party’s official mouthpiece, said in a
Wednesday.
China will review the export of TikTok’s tech and intellectual
property licensing needed to complete the deal, the commentary added.
Sticking point
A key sticking point in the deal is the fate of TikTok’s AI-driven
recommendation algorithm, the secret sauce at the heart of its global
success.
Wang Jingtao, a deputy director of China’s Cyberspace Administration,
said the deal could include methods such as entrusting the operation of
TikTok’s US user data and content security services, as well as
licensing its algorithms and intellectual property rights.
“The key issue as I understand it from the Beijing side has always
been about the algorithm and ByteDance’s IP,” said Trey McArver,
co-founder of research firm Trivium China.
“For a long time, the red line for the Chinese side has been the
algorithm,” he said, adding that selling the technology was seen as
unacceptable to Beijing because it would feel like the US was bullying
China and seizing its prized asset.
In 2020, when Trump first tried to force a TikTok sale, China placed a
raft of technologies it deemed sensitive under export controls,
including those that enable personalized content recommendations based
on data analysis – like TikTok’s powerful algorithm.
Cui Fan, an economics professor in Beijing and advisor to the Chinese
Commerce Ministry, that TikTok’s technologies are restricted rather
than banned for export. The Chinese government will likely conduct
reviews and issue a technology export license, which would then allow
ByteDance to grant TikTok permission to use them, he in a social media
post ahead of the Xi-Trump call.
The two leaders by phone in June, when they pulled a fragile tariff
truce between their countries . That detente has since been extended to
November, as the two sides race to strike a broader deal to resolve
their trade differences and long-running disputes.
On Friday, Trump said he will meet Xi at the APEC summit in South Korea
next month, and that he will visit China early next year. The leaders
also agreed that Xi would come to the United States “at the
appropriate time,” Trump said.
Compared with a summit on the sidelines of a multilateral event,
“Beijing obviously would prefer a meeting in China, because they can
control everything,” said McArver at Trivium China.
“I don’t think they are going to cede things in a negotiation to
get there,” he added. “But they may be able to make the visit look
more appealing.”
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