A new chapter in the TikTok saga, China abandons WTO developing country status, and Xi sets conservative climate goal

Welcome back to What’s Happening in China, your weekly China brief.

More details emerged this week regarding the TikTok deal. On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order approving its permanence in the U.S., in what seems like an overly complex deal and in terms that have been described as favoring Beijing, though it remains unclear what it will receive in return.

According to CNBC, “tech giant Oracle, Silver Lake and the Abu Dhabi-based MGX investment fund will be main investors in TikTok’s U.S. business, controlling a roughly 45% stake in the entity, while ByteDance investors and new holders will own 35%,” although it’s odd that “no representatives from ByteDance were present at the signing” and “there’s no indication that the Chinese government has made changes to laws that would be necessary for a deal to take place.”

Also confusing is the fact that apparently Beijing still needs to approve the final terms of the deal, despite Trump’s assurances that Xi had already blessed the arran…