The so-called China Social Media Reciprocity Act some House Republicans proposed to the United States legislature on Tuesday represents the latest attempt by some US politicians to prevent Sino-US relations from being put back onto the right track.
The act would "prohibit the provision of services by social media platforms to individuals and entities on the Specially Designated Nations List and certain officials and other individuals and entities of the People's Republic of China" unless China verifiably "removes prohibitions on officials of the US government from accessing, using, or participating in social media platforms in China".
The justification given for the move is that banks and US insurance companies are not allowed to provide accounts to sanctioned individuals or entities, but due to the current loophole in the sanctions law, social media companies are allowed to provide the accounts because they are related to freedom of information.
In fact the move is further evidence of the discrimination against anything Chinese that prevails in Washington. As long as Chinese individuals and entities abide by the relevant laws and regulations while using social media platforms run by companies from the US or any other country, they should not be excluded simply because of where they are from, who they work for or what their beliefs are.
Officials of the US are allowed to use Chinese social media platforms so long as they abide by the laws of the country. The US embassy in China has official accounts on Chinese social media platforms as do many senior officials of its allies who welcome the chance to exchange views with Chinese netizens. That US government officials don't is either because they choose not to or because they know what they say would be prohibited under Chinese law.
US social media companies do not appear in China because their internal management rules and the supervisory regulations they follow are not in line with the relevant laws in China. And they have not been willing to adjust them. But the Chinese social media companies, ranging from ByteDance, owner of TikTok, to Tencent, owner of WeChat, are always ready to adapt to the legal environment in the US, in order to enter the US market.
The proposed US act would set a very bad example as it shows that a handful of US lawmakers can easily block the communication between the two peoples.
Although the Joe Biden administration has apparently softened its China rhetoric recently, the proposed act shows that China hawks in Washington are unwilling to let go of their zero-sum mentality.
While there should be guardrails for Sino-US relations, they should not be fences built by the US side with the aim of containing China.