With the latest total market capitalization of less than HK$4.8 trillion, Tencent's shares fell 10%. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index fell more than 3%, the Hang Seng Technology Index fell more than 5%, and the semiconductor sector declined, with Semiconductor Manufacturing International falling 10%.
According to AFP, President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on June 6 local time, announcing that he will ban any US individuals and businesses from any ByteDance transactions with TikTok's parent company for 45 days, as well as WeChat-related transactions with Tencent.
Prior to that, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced at a press conference at the State Department on Aug. 5 (ET) that the Trump administration would expand the Clean Network program to protect U.S. assets and security, according to media reports. According to Reuters, the program covers five areas, including blocking "a variety of Chinese applications and Chinese telecommunications companies from accessing sensitive information about U.S. citizens and businesses."
In a move that once again uses so-called "national security" as a pretext for stepping up efforts to remove so-called "untrustworthy" Chinese apps such as TikTok and WeChat from U.S. digital networks, Pumpio bluntly named seven Chinese tech companies including Huawei, China Mobile, Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent, with the aim of banning more apps from China and further restricting Chinese companies' access to the U.S. cloud system.
Source: Netease Finance
