Fifteen days after the end of his term, US President Donald Trump stepped up his offensive against Chinese technology, signing a decree against eight applications in the name of “national security.”
The decree signed on Tuesday prohibits, within 45 days, any transaction with these applications, “from any person under the jurisdiction of the United States.”
This is a new front in the technological rivalry with China, innovative applications now have global ambitions.
Beijing is closely monitoring the internet and blocking sites considered politically sensitive. This system, called the “Great Wall of Computers,” allowed him to emerge digital champions, In the absence of US competitors – such as Google, Facebook or Twitter – blocked in its territory.
Although some of the eight applications are popular abroad, others are used mainly by the Chinese.
WeChat Pay, as simple as a scanner
It is an essential payment service in China, which is increasingly replacing the use of cash. This electronic wallet is integrated into WeChat (Tencent group), the email most used by the Chinese.
Even in the most remote corners, including in the markets to pay small sums, the Chinese go through WeChat Pay.
Transactions are done by scanning a QR code with your mobile phone, and it is also possible to transfer money to your contacts.
WeChat has 1.2 billion active users. Although, mostly Chinese, the app is also available in about twenty languages.
QQ, more than Chinese MSN
Like WeChat, QQ belongs to the giant Tencent. Launched in 1999, this app was the first successful email in the country.
The program was largely based on MSN Messenger from the American Microsoft. QQ is, in a way, the ancestor of WeChat, later developed specifically for smartphones.
QQ, which also has an e-mail service, has since adapted to the mobile age (video conferencing, QQ Wallet payment platform).
The app remains popular in China professionally and claims more than 768 million active users, mostly Chinese.
Alipay, stronger than PayPal
Alipay, owned by online trading giant Alibaba, founded by billionaire Jack Ma, is the world’s largest payment platform.
Like WeChat Pay, its main competitor in China, Alipay allows you to pay for your purchases through a mobile app using QR codes.
Present in more than 80 million stores, this system is used every month by more than 700 million people, according to company figures.
Alipay reports an annual transaction volume of more than 118 trillion yuan (about $ 17.7 trillion, $ 14.4 trillion), five times more than US giant PayPal.
CamScanner, digitization specialist
Scanning documents with your mobile phone, converting text elements in a photo or “debugging” scanned documents to high-resolution files, CamScanner offers a number of scanning tools and solutions for file storage and exchange.
CamScanner is developed by the Chinese INTSIG, which specializes in recognition technologies (facial, voice and identity documents), which claims more than 300 million users worldwide.
In 2019, Russian computer antivirus publisher Kaspersky found a malicious program on CamScanner. For its part, India banned the application last year in the name of security, as did more than another 200 Chinese applications.
VMate, a clone of TikTok
Dances or songs in playback, filmed challenges, the application allows, like TikTok – which conquered teenagers around the world before also being in the sights of the United States – to create and share short videos.
Launched in 2017 with the support of Alibaba, aimed at the huge Indian market, VMate is very popular in India but is now also on the list of banned Chinese apps in the country.
SHAREit, sharing without limits
Movies, photos, music and even text documents. SHAREit is a shared content application that supports all file types and sizes.
It allows you to quickly share heavy files on all types of devices (smartphones, computers or tablets) without going through an internet connection and preserving the original quality.
Main advantage of the application: the confidentiality of exchanges, which in principle can not be intercepted by a third party.
SHAREit, available in 45 languages, has 1.8 billion users spread across 200 countries and regions.
WPS Office, Microsoft’s alternative
It is the Chinese alternative to Microsoft’s popular office software (Word, Excel). Founded in 1989, the company of about 2,000 employees claims more than 1 billion users worldwide and has subsidiaries in the United States and Singapore.