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Should TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi’s Singaporean nationality matter?

A more sanguine appreciation of the brewing US-China rivalry should give us some perspective on the issue.

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TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee March 23.

TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee March 23.

PHOTO: AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Leong Chan-Hoong

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There could not be a more blatant display of anti-China sentiment than the United States congressional hearing last week on whether TikTok, the social media platform, threatened US national security.

TikTok chief executive officer Chew Shou Zi was grilled for more than five hours

on Capitol Hill by both Republican and Democrat lawmakers. He had to contend with a flurry of charges against him and his company, including that he was working as an agent of influence for the Chinese Communist Party, that

TikTok was violating US data privacy,

and that it had the malicious intent of disseminating misinformation through use of its algorithm to sway public opinion on subjects related to US-China relations.

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