This seems to be, for China, a break from the plaza accord era. China has a lot at stake (more than tiktok), and they are not capitulating at cars either (they have been warned by Janet Yellen about "over-capacity"). If Tiktok gets banned in the US, this will accelerate the conflict.

It doesn't help that today's politicians are not saving face either. You have gangoons who have nothing to do with tech that wants to buy-out the falling cow.