China is opposed to the pressure the United States is applying to foreign companies in its territory, including TikTok-owning ByteDance, and is determined to support such companies in the protection of their legitimate rights, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Monday
BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2020) China is opposed to the pressure the United States is applying to foreign companies in its territory, including TikTok-owning ByteDance, and is determined to support such companies in the protection of their legitimate rights, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Monday.
In early August, US President Donald Trump said that the Chinese video-sharing app TikTok would be banned in the United States unless ByteDance sells it to an American company. The deadline for the purchase was set on September 15.
"China has already repeatedly stated its stance on the issue of TikTok. The US cracked down on TikTok, it was a typical state-coerced deal," Wang said when asked to comment on the matter.
The spokesman pointed to the discrepancy between how "certain politicians" in the US call for free internet, on the one hand, and then, on the other hand, they "generalize the national security concept, abuse power, carry out intimidation by all means and apply arbitrary pressure on non-US companies which have achieved leadership in certain fields."
"All of this openly demonstrates the true intentions of certain US politicians and the ugly face of economic bullying. China strongly opposes this and intends to support the companies concerned in securing their legitimate rights and interests," Wang added.
The spokesman called on US authorities to "provide open, fair and nondiscriminatory business environment for foreign companies which invest in the US and work there."
After Trump announced plans to ban TikTok, a number of US tech sharks expressed interest in buying the app from ByteDance. microsoft was in talks with the Chinese developers for some time, but they never reached an agreement. Oracle was reportedly negotiating, too. According to Chinese state media, ByteDance has not agreed to a deal with them either.
The US government has long been after TikTok, along with several other Chinese tech companies, over alleged data privacy concerns on the backdrop of a fierce economic competition that got coined as a "trade war."
