Shortly after US President Donald Trump issued an executive order effectively banning the Chinese-owned social-media app TikTok, he issued a second order prohibiting “any transaction that is related to WeChat by any person … as identified by the Secretary of Commerce.”

Tencent Holdings’ WeChat, China’s most popular messenger app, on Tuesday denied storing users’ chat histories, after a top businessman was quoted in media reports as saying he believed Tencent was monitoring everyone’s account.

While many of China’s largest brands – Haier, Huawei and Xiaomi – have not yet become household names, Joel Backaler describes how China’s domestic market is changing and the companies that are focusing on developing their brand internationally.