Commentary: Will China's new data security initiative define...

SINGAPORE: Data security and trade in data have become a major bone of contention between the United States (US) and China in a conflict that started as a trade tussle but is rapidly sliding towards a new cold war. Concerns over access to data by the Chinese government has led the US to impose measures on companies that use US technologies to supply Huawei, a leading Chinese telecoms company. It has also leaned on countries around the world to exclude Huawei from its 5G network for reasons of data security risks. In August, the Trump Administration announced that for national security concerns, it would ban the popular video networking TikTok app. A similar move was announced for WeChat, the popular app that allows users to perform multiple tasks, from communications to ecommerce to payments. The argument was that both apps could divert data of US citizens to the Chinese government....