The only thing unique about this case is the fact that USA might ban the app, which is fair considering China does the same to US tech companies.
This is exactly what China does to foreign companies who wish to operate in China. The US is simply pursuing a model of reciprocal trade protections and tariffs.
the chinese government forces them to "sell" (i.e. "partner" where the partner is given significant concessions that would never happen without the chinese government's protection, including ownership over IP).
honestly, if one views the US in a trade war with china, then there is a concept of "national security" (in a wide view of the term, I'd agree not the traditional view in the US, but probably closer to how china views the term) to allowing chinese companies access to the US market that are not reciprocated in China.
heck, the fact that they want to "partner" is probably indicative of how the chinese view the issue. i.e. US companies have to have a chinese "partner" to enter china, so to do the same in the US, they seek out a US partner.
an example might be https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/china-coronavirus-nation...
to an extent its a he-said/she-said, but if this were in the US, we would say "it's not a good look".
For a different (and more stupid) reason though. It's not like CCP banned Facebook for sending home data, they banned Facebook for not being able to comply to censorship requirements.
iCloud would be a better example here.
The point being made is that government intervention is a given in China at every level.
You can argue either way on if it’s “right” for the US to be doing it too, but it’s a bit rich to make a song and dance about how unfair it is under the circumstances.
I’m 100% happy to agree governments in general, should keep out of this stuff, but that’s not the world we live in, or have lived in, for a very long time...
/shrug
It sucks, but it’s kind of hard to be sympathetic, honestly.
You reap what you sow.