Why does the CPC ban Google, Facebook, Twitter & a ton of other non-Chinese online companies?
They want control over media, especially political content. They want to make sure speech, affiliation and such is under their control. Are you saying the US should adopt this approach?
No, the symmetry matters only in the relationship between the two countries, not in them mirroring each other in their domestic practices.
The patriarch of a neighboring family does not welcome members of your family into their home, so why should your family welcome them into yours? On the other hand, that the patriarch practices domestic violence is another matter; you don't mirror that.
Those two are inseparable. China's policy towards foreign media is a domestic policy. Diplomacy and trade relations are subservient to that. They are worried about foreign influence on chinese political culture. That is what is being mirrored in the US by the tiktok case.
In any case, the has never been symmetry... or any intention to have symmetry. Each country has its goals. That's how trade deals always work.
China's primary goals were/are exports and the abovementioned protection against foreign and/or free media. The US' goals are US investment into china, an american-like legal framework for protecting these investments and adoption of US-compatible IP protections. That's what each side wanted. It reflects values. That's what they got. Both complain they didn't get enough of what they wanted.
It's not like the US is going to adopt elements of chinese patent law for the sake of symmetry.
>Are you saying the US should adopt this approach?
Is this what's happening right now? Is there political speech being conducted on tiktok that the president doesn't like? Can the same speech be found on other platforms (eg. twitter)?
They want control over media, especially political content. They want to make sure speech, affiliation and such is under their control. Are you saying the US should adopt this approach?
Trade fairness is a red herring.