After imposing restrictions on some of China's largest tech companies, including Huawei Technologies and the country's largest chipmaker SMIC, the Trump administration is reportedly now setting its sights on Beijing's major digital payment platforms.
Sources familiar with the matter said that the U.S. was now considering the imposition of restrictions on Chinese digital payment platforms such as Tencent's WeChat Pay and Ant Group's Alipay. Officials are reportedly planning to use the same reasoning for the move, claiming that the platforms could pose serious national security threats.
Discussions and debate over how and when to go about restricting the use of the Chinese platforms are reportedly being conducted by senior U.S. officials. However, a decision to push through with the plan has reportedly yet to be finalized.
The same sources said that officials are concerned if both platforms do continue to dominate the global digital payments industry, it could give China access to significant amounts of banking and personal data of millions of American citizens. Discussion on the matter reportedly started during a meeting in the White House Situation Room in late September but progress was delayed after Trump had contracted the coronavirus.
It is not yet clear if the proposal has already been presented to the U.S. president, whose approval will ultimately be needed for the plan to proceed. Trump had fallen ill due to the virus just a day after he had met with administration officials to discuss China.
News of the alleged plan comes as Ant Group, the digital payments arm of Chinese conglomerate Alibaba Group, prepared for its massive dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai. The Chinese firm is expected to raise up to $35 billion through its dual listings, making it one of the largest IPOs ever launched in the country.
In a separate statement, Ant Group claimed that it was unaware that such a discussion had taken place within the Trump administration. It added that its business is still primarily based in China and it will still be focusing on growing its operations in the country. Tencent has yet to formally issue a response to the news.
