Member-only story
TikTok Is a Wake-Up Call to Silicon Valley
The U.S. and Chinese tech sectors are on a collision path
The United States-China relationship is at a stunning low: A trade war has enveloped both countries, knocking the legs out from an already shaky global economy; Chinese researchers, accused of spycraft, are under suspicion at United States research facilities; and after three decades of manufacturing codependency, both countries are disentangling their supply chains. Last year, FBI director Christopher Wray underscored the tension between the two countries when he testified that “the China threat [is] not just a whole-of-government threat, but a whole-of-society threat.”
Journalist Matt Sheehan’s new book, The Transpacific Experiment, is thus a timely reminder that the United States-China relationship has been instrumental in the growth of a prized cornerstone of the U.S. economy — California, and more specifically, Silicon Valley. Sheehan, a Paulson Institute fellow, lays out how the human and financial capital shared between China and California helped facilitate the development of two massive tech industries, along with some unexpected consequences: Chinese electric bus manufacturers setting up shop in California, Chinese moguls snapping up American movie theater chains, and the rise of “sea turtles,” a Mandarin term for Chinese students who choose…
