Amid escalating tensions between China and the U.S., young people in cities across China are voicing concern, over what's being seen as Washington's clampdown on Chinese enterprises – from tech giant Huawei to ByteDance's TikTok.  

We spoke to some young people in the capital Beijing and the financial hub of Shanghai. 

The general consensus on the ground is that many believe this is a move to impede China's growth and development, and America's move will only spur China to become 'stronger.'

"I think this is a move to block the exposure of people in America, because you see, we in China access the app (Douyin), too. That said, while I feel China is much stronger now, it is still not as strong as America to be able to place such (harsh) measures on another country," said one.  

He however objectively noted that every country has its own advantages, and that the present tensions are not impacting his consumption preferences. 

"'Imported' doesn't necessarily equate to good quality, while 'Made in China' doesn't necessarily mean something is of bad quality," he said.  

"(That said), for example, between Apple and Huawei, I will still buy Apple phones now because while I feel Huawei is making great strides itself, I feel some of its functions are still unable to reach Apple's level," he explained. 

"Many people use the 'nationalism' card when they buy a Huawei product. For example, if you use a Huawei phone, it proves your love for the country. This is like selling one's feelings and it's not necessary. To put it simply, if I think something is good, I'd buy it." 

Meanwhile, another said America's economic suppression and restrictions placed on Chinese companies is a loss to America, "because they will lose a huge market of ours, our good feelings towards them, as well as job opportunities brought about to them." 

A woman who just completed China's national college entrance examinations, quipped "because we are now a culturally confident country, this spells trouble for the U.S." 

She said one of the essay questions in the test was on globalization, and believes that globalization is a natural process. "If just one party, especially a strong nation like America, interferes in this, it will be detrimental." 

"It (the move on TikTok) aims to prevent the export of Chinese culture, and impedes the cultural exchanges between China and the U.S. I currently use a virtual private network to access some overseas sites, but if I have to use a VPN just to access TikTok in the future, I wouldn't use the app as much anymore." 
 

In the meantime, some foreigners in China dismissed concerns about their data privacy, stating, they reveal data on other social media platforms, too, in today's borderless world.  

"The onus is then on the user to be careful with what he or she churns out in her social media accounts," a French living in Beijing said.  

"I think everyone is going to use TikTok in the U.S. It is an app that's funny, and I don't think China spies with TikTok," said another woman from Argentina.  

The United States ranks among the top three countries where TikTok has been downloaded the most. 

At 165 million app installations, the U.S. accounts for 8.2 percent of the social media platform's over two billion downloads as of April 2020. According to research firm Sensor Tower, user spending from the U.S., however, accounted for an even larger percentage, at 19 percent.  

Professor Liu Chunsheng from Central University of Finance and Economics told CGTN that perhaps the best solution for ByteDance now is to sell its entire U.S. assets and platforms to U.S. companies and or investors. 

"ByteDance has invested a lot of time and money to penetrate the U.S. market, reaping something from a sale would be better than nothing," he said.  

Liu also said what the world needs right now is widely acceptable international rules on mobile applications, and these can only be achieved with multilateral negotiations. 

A young male based in Shanghai said presently, most politicians in the U.S. still hold on to a Cold War mentality. 

"They are not trying hard enough to understand the Chinese way of seeing the world and doing things, where we see ourselves as tied in a shared community with a shared destiny. And that narrative is not easy to perceive because that is something that we see in thousands of years of culture that we have," he said.  

"So to me that clash of culture and values will lead to an increase in degree of conflicts, but I'm not saying that the conflicts can't be managed, but this will be the new normal in the Sino-U.S. relationship." 

(Hu Nan also contributed to the story)