Quote Originally Posted by flagg View Post
While not principally national security related, this article on WeChat is worth reading:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/09/t...na-wechat.html

It offers a glimpse into the fundamental differences between individual Western social platforms and the all encompassing single app WeChat in China with over 1 billion monthly active users.

Again, while it’s not principally a weapon or tool of war, it is quite possibly the most valuable piece of virtual infrastructure in China worthy of a CARVER matrix.

It’s like Facebook, WhatsApp, banking/credit/payments, 3rd Party services, etc. It arguably earns the title “Super App”.

Trade has been used as a weapon.

It’s not outside the realm of possibility that the WeChat platform could be used as a weapon to expand a Chinese dominant economic block by compelling its use with trading partners via leverage.

What if Chinese debt trap diplomacy compelled the use of WeChat?

Is there a risk of the US Dollar global reserve currency becoming the WeChat global default platform?
It is already used a population control mechanism. It is amazing how dominate it is throughout the parts of China I visited. I know futurists envision a cashless society, which is a way to empower state control over the individual. Arguably the CPC wages two wars, one internal against the perceived enemies of the party, and one external against Taiwan, Japan, and numerous Southeast Asian nations.