> US companies are allowed to operate social media services in China if they store data locally and follow Chinese law.
I guess the fair approach would be for the US to require Chinese companies' products to be actively and and preemptively censored by the US government. E.g. require the Global Times to publish editorials praising the US if it wants those editorials to be read in the country. Maybe the US should also pass laws to make forced tech transfers from Chinese companies the norm (I guess arguably that is what the whole "sell Tiktok" is really). Seems fair and reciprocal.
That would not be fair and reciprocal unless the US also required US companies to praise the US.
It's not unfair for a company from country X to not be able to operate in country Y because the X company does not want to obey the laws that apply to generally all Y companies.
For example it is not unfair that some foreign financial companies cannot operate in the US because they aren't willing to obey US KYC and tax reporting requirements. It's fair because those KYC and tax reporting requirements also apply to US companies.
It's not unfair that some foreign child car seat manufacturers cannot sell in the US because they have not went through the testing required for regulatory approval. US car seat manufacturers have to go through the same approval process.
A fair and reciprocal move US can do is to require .edu and arxiv.org-likes websites to block China, and deny academic conferences to Chinese nationals.
I'm not sure how you could argue it wouldn't be fair. The US would only be treating Chinese companies like China treats US companies.
> Wouldn't giving American consumers access to what they want be the fairest of all?
No? Not unless China did likewise. What is your definition of fairness?
> Just because there's a wrong in China with their censorship, doesn't mean that adding another wrong in the US make a right.
How is "wrong" for the US to treat Chinese companies the way US companies are treated in China? These are simply trade agreements. Besides if you think what China is doing is wrong, then I hope you'd understand that the US ignoring it _enables_ that wrong.
By your logic, the US shouldn't ban products produced by slave labor. Do you mean to make that argument? If not, what would be different there?
I'm not really a fan of direct open censorship of the US like this so I wouldn't personally support that over a ban either. My main point is just the US can simply act under the principle of trade reciprocity by saying if you don't allow our corporations (including news) operate within your country without undue interference, your corporations don't get to operate in ours. "Undue interference" would be defined by the US (or jointly by the US and China through some negotiation), but it wouldn't be just China that decides since well this is US legislation we're talking about that.
Nothing there would go against the principles of free trade or even free speech really. China would be free to open up if they want to engage in those activities. But if China didn't want that, then it wouldn't mean that the US is somehow acting rashly or wrong by reciprocating economically.
As far as I'm seeing here you're describing the same end result. I'm not going to disagree with you because at the end of the day I only care about that end result.
However I also think this plan will prove way more unwieldy and easy to abuse than a more direct and honest ban that makes it clear China has none of our trust and is recognized as a proper hostile state.
I'm not sure why you're being so argumentative. You and I are largely saying the same thing. I don't think it would be unreasonable for the US to ban the certain Chinese companies (e.g. Tiktok) _until_ China changes its laws and trade practices.
I guess the fair approach would be for the US to require Chinese companies' products to be actively and and preemptively censored by the US government. E.g. require the Global Times to publish editorials praising the US if it wants those editorials to be read in the country. Maybe the US should also pass laws to make forced tech transfers from Chinese companies the norm (I guess arguably that is what the whole "sell Tiktok" is really). Seems fair and reciprocal.