Fresh air indeed, and fresh air of an article. I particularly value the chain of self-reflections at the end. I will be glad to see such framework materialises. Chimerica has way more common challenges and tasks than what politicians and pundits on both sides make it look like.
The tech pragmatist in me is relieved—if this is an angle for getting BYD, Deepseek, or CATL products into American markets, then this is an angle to genuinely reduce customer costs for cars, phones, and energy.
The idealist in me can’t shake the stink of corruption to this whole affair.
Everything the Trump cohort has told me about dethroning elites and competing with China and draining the swamp and rising _above_ iPad slop…can be forsaken if Trumpworld Big Men can get a cut.
I'm not completely following why the national security part was false. Wouldn't requiring American companies to have some ownership make this still somewhat about that?
My real question is — given this is all a software company — can we expect something like this sooner than later with AI? Right now China is winning open source AI, it seems inevitable that they build an AI product that consumers fall in love with too (even though most of these apps will be American)
Kenneth Waltz argued that international politics was structured by anarchy, the absence of authority above states. But Kevin Xu’s TikTok Template shows that order now comes through licensing, not self-help. The TikTok deal — a U.S. entity with majority American investors, a golden share for Washington, and a minority Chinese stake — reveals a system governed by contracts. This is not anarchy; it is procedure.
The implications collapse Mearsheimer’s offensive realism and Allison’s Thucydides Trap. In the algorithmic domain, China is the status quo power while the United States is the aspirant. Conflict is not inevitable; the danger is irrelevance, as platforms rather than states define the bandwidth of influence.
This is Tianxia reborn: tribute no longer flows as jade or silk but as intellectual property rights and licensing fees. Governance is exercised through the feed — what is amplified, muted, or recommended. Consent to this feed is still governance, yet it can channel recognition and coexistence rather than rivalry and violence.
Anarchy is no longer persuasive. The TikTok algorithm is the night watchman, administering a world ordered by attention and licensing law.
Thanks for the analysis. However, one issue that seems not to have been discussed so far (anywhere) is whether the content of this new TikTok spin-off app under US-American tutelage will be accessible for users from around the world via their traditional TikTok app? If this agreed-upon solution requires downloading a completely new app, potentially restricted to the US-based App stores, then this overall plan seems to come with a huge downside for international communication flows: a further splintering of the digital eco-system...
Fresh air indeed, and fresh air of an article. I particularly value the chain of self-reflections at the end. I will be glad to see such framework materialises. Chimerica has way more common challenges and tasks than what politicians and pundits on both sides make it look like.
The tech pragmatist in me is relieved—if this is an angle for getting BYD, Deepseek, or CATL products into American markets, then this is an angle to genuinely reduce customer costs for cars, phones, and energy.
The idealist in me can’t shake the stink of corruption to this whole affair.
Everything the Trump cohort has told me about dethroning elites and competing with China and draining the swamp and rising _above_ iPad slop…can be forsaken if Trumpworld Big Men can get a cut.
I'm not completely following why the national security part was false. Wouldn't requiring American companies to have some ownership make this still somewhat about that?
My real question is — given this is all a software company — can we expect something like this sooner than later with AI? Right now China is winning open source AI, it seems inevitable that they build an AI product that consumers fall in love with too (even though most of these apps will be American)
Kenneth Waltz argued that international politics was structured by anarchy, the absence of authority above states. But Kevin Xu’s TikTok Template shows that order now comes through licensing, not self-help. The TikTok deal — a U.S. entity with majority American investors, a golden share for Washington, and a minority Chinese stake — reveals a system governed by contracts. This is not anarchy; it is procedure.
The implications collapse Mearsheimer’s offensive realism and Allison’s Thucydides Trap. In the algorithmic domain, China is the status quo power while the United States is the aspirant. Conflict is not inevitable; the danger is irrelevance, as platforms rather than states define the bandwidth of influence.
This is Tianxia reborn: tribute no longer flows as jade or silk but as intellectual property rights and licensing fees. Governance is exercised through the feed — what is amplified, muted, or recommended. Consent to this feed is still governance, yet it can channel recognition and coexistence rather than rivalry and violence.
Anarchy is no longer persuasive. The TikTok algorithm is the night watchman, administering a world ordered by attention and licensing law.
For a fuller allegorical treatment — The TikTok Temple: A Tribute Liturgy for the Algorithmic Tianxia: https://open.substack.com/pub/alkoch55/p/the-tiktok-temple?
Thanks for the analysis. However, one issue that seems not to have been discussed so far (anywhere) is whether the content of this new TikTok spin-off app under US-American tutelage will be accessible for users from around the world via their traditional TikTok app? If this agreed-upon solution requires downloading a completely new app, potentially restricted to the US-based App stores, then this overall plan seems to come with a huge downside for international communication flows: a further splintering of the digital eco-system...