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Tag: chinese president xi jinping

  • TikTok secures US future with new independent company – Tech Digest

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    TikTok has officially finalized a deal to transfer its American operations into a new, majority US-owned entity, effectively ending years of legal battles and a looming nationwide ban.

    The newly established TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC will operate as an independent firm, allowing the short-video app to continue serving its 200 million American users under a structure designed to satisfy federal national security requirements.

    The finalized ownership structure grants a consortium of American and global investors an 80.1% stake in the new business, while the Chinese parent company, ByteDance, retains a minority 19.9% share.

    This specific threshold is critical, as it ensures ByteDance stays below the 20% ownership limit mandated by US divestiture laws.

    Cloud computing giant Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based AI investor MGX serve as the three managing investors, with each holding a 15% stake in the venture. Other notable backers include the Dell Family Office and affiliates of Susquehanna International Group.

    A central component of the agreement involves TikTok’s proprietary recommendation algorithm, often described as its “secret sauce.” Rather than a full sale, ByteDance will license the algorithm to the US entity.

    Under the supervision of Oracle, which acts as the “trusted security partner,” the algorithm will be housed in a secure US cloud environment and completely retrained using only American user data.

    This process is intended to ensure the content feed remains free from foreign manipulation or outside influence, though experts suggest it could result in a “lighter” or different user experience compared to the global version of the app.

    The joint venture is led by CEO Adam Presser, formerly TikTok’s head of operations and Chief Security Officer Will Farrell. They report to a seven-member, majority-American board of directors that includes TikTok global CEO Shou Zi Chew, alongside executives from Oracle and Silver Lake.

    President Donald Trump, who repeatedly delayed the ban to facilitate these negotiations, welcomed the news on social media, thanking Chinese President Xi Jinping for his role in approving the deal. The agreement also extends its security protocols to other ByteDance-owned apps in the US, including CapCut and Lemon8.

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    Chris Price

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  • ‘Lift the lockdown’: Huge protests in China’s Xinjiang against Xi Jinping over zero Covid policy

    ‘Lift the lockdown’: Huge protests in China’s Xinjiang against Xi Jinping over zero Covid policy

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    Massive protests erupted in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region against President Xi Jinping in the aftermath of the deaths of 10 people in an apartment fire, the latest sign of unrest in the country.

    The protesters directed their rage at the country’s strict COVID-19 policies.

    In videos posted on social media on Friday evening, crowds chanted “End the lockdown,” as demonstrators appeared to link China’s zero COVID-19 policy to the deaths in the fire.

    China has imposed some of the country’s longest curfews, with many of Urumqi’s 4 million residents barred from leaving their homes for up to 100 days. In the last two days, the city has reported approximately 200 new cases.

    Although the high-rise building’s occupants were reportedly able to descend the stairs, Reuters reported on Saturday that videos shared on Chinese social media showing rescue operations misled many into thinking that residents were unable to leave because the structure was partially locked down.

    The latest protests, which come in the wake of widespread employee unrest at Foxconn’s flagship iPhone plant that has resulted in thousands of resignations, will increase pressure on Chinese President Xi Jinping.

    Videos of the Foxconn protests in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, quickly went viral online as a result of the protest, which was in part stoked by China’s COVID-19 restrictions.

    The plant was scheduled to enter partial lockdown from Friday at midnight until Sunday in order to stop the spread of COVID-19 infections, which had put it under lockdown after an outbreak in October.

    Daily coronavirus cases have reached levels not seen since last year, indicating that the ‘zero-Covid’ policy has failed. On November 25, China reported 35,183 new Covid infections, a new high for the third day in a row.

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  • Watch: Chinese President Xi confront Canada’s Trudeau over media leaks at G20 summit

    Watch: Chinese President Xi confront Canada’s Trudeau over media leaks at G20 summit

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    Watch: Chinese President Xi confronts Canada’s Justin Trudeau over media leaks at G20 summit

    Chinese President Xi Jinping, on Wednesday, criticised Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in person over alleged leaks of their closed-door meeting at the G20 summit.

    In video footage published by Canadian broadcasters, both Xi and Trudeau can be seen standing close to each other and conversing via a translator. The video, which Canadian broadcasters called a rare public display of annoyance by the Chinese leader, captured a candid moment of Xi, whose image is carefully curated by Chinese state media.

    In the video, Xi can be heard saying in Mandarin: “That is not appropriate, and we didn’t do it that way.” The Chinese president added, “If there is sincerity, we can communicate well with mutual respect, otherwise the outcome will not be easy to tell.”

    His displeasure was likely a reference to media reports that Trudeau brought up “serious concerns” about alleged espionage and Chinese “interference” in the Canadian elections when meeting with Xi on Tuesday, his first talks with the Chinese leader in more than three years.

    However, it should also be noted that Canada never released an official readout of the meeting.

    A translator for Xi can be heard in the video telling Trudeau that “everything we discussed was leaked to the paper(s), that’s not appropriate”.

    Trudeau, while responding to Xi’s initial criticism, said: “In Canada, we believe in free and open and frank dialogue and that is what we will continue to have, we will continue to look to work constructively together but there will be things we disagree on.”

    However, Chinese President Xi, before finishing speaking, looked slightly exasperated and emphatically said “create the conditions, create the conditions, OK”  before smiling, shaking Trudeau’s hand, and walking off.

    Neither the Chinese foreign ministry nor state media published anything on the talks between Xi and Trudeau. The two held an informal meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit on Tuesday, Reuters reported citing sources.  

    According to the Chinese foreign ministry website, Xi has held nine formal bilateral meetings with other heads of state while at the summit.

    Earlier this month, Canada ordered three Chinese companies to divest their investments in Canadian critical minerals, citing national security.

    (With input from Reuters)

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