Apple products could be boycotted in China if the Chinese WeChat app is banned in the United States, a Beijing spokesman warned on Friday, amid heightened tensions between the two powers.
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US President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this month threatening to ban the Chinese video-sharing application TikTok within 45 days, accused of spying on behalf of Beijing. A similar decree targets the WeChat platform, essential in China, which belongs to the giant Tencent.
“If WeChat is banned (in the United States), then there will be no reason for the Chinese to keep their iPhones and Apple products,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian warned on Twitter.
These are more direct remarks than those made the day before to the press by this spokesperson. Mr. Zhao then assured that “many Chinese say they could stop using an iPhone if WeChat is banned.”
The Trump administration’s executive order threatens to ban any financial transactions by a U.S. entity with WeChat, which de facto could force Apple to remove the app from its AppStore platform.
On Friday, the subject was variously commented on on social networks in China.
“I use Apple, but I also love my country,” remarked a user on the Weibo platform, similar to Twitter which is banned in China.
“No matter how good Apple (an iPhone) is just a phone and it can be replaced. But WeChat is different, ”commented another internet user.
Known as Weixin in Mandarin, WeChat has no less than 1.2 billion active users. They are predominantly Chinese even though the application is available in nearly twenty languages.
Originally a simple instant messaging application similar to the American WhatsApp, WeChat today offers a wide range of services in China (payment by phone, news feed, video games, hotel or travel reservations in particular) .
Apple products, from iPhone to iPad, are hugely popular in China, one of the US group’s main markets outside the United States.
Apple held 8% of the Chinese smartphone market in the second quarter, far behind the national champion Huawei, according to the firm Counterpoint Research.
Apple products, made in China, are an important source of jobs in the Asian country, which has so far undoubtedly dissuaded Beijing from hampering the activities of the American firm.
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