The fact that the United States has put TikTok in the reins, threatening to block the application in its country if it does not sell it to a national company (Microsoft is already rubbing its hands at the possibility), has made the situation between China and the United States is even more tense.
China on Tuesday accused the United States of intimidation over the popular video app TikTok, after President Donald Trump increased pressure for its operations to be sold to a US company.
We already know that Trump has given TikTok six weeks to organize the sale of its US operations, and said his administration wanted a financial benefit from the deal. According to Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin:
This goes against the principles of the market economy and the principles of openness, transparency and non-discrimination (from the World Trade Organization) […] It is absolute intimidation.
According to the United States, this is a matter of national security, as TikTok collects large amounts of personal data from users. Trump says that if they want to operate in the United States, it must be with an American company, since they do not want to have any problems with security.
China criticized the move as political manipulation, saying at a press conference:
The United States, without providing any evidence, has been using an abusive concept of national security … unjustifiably suppressing certain non-US companies […] Our companies conduct business in accordance with international standards and US law, but the United States is cracking down on them on trumped-up charges.
He even threatens the United States with the phrase it is better not to open Pandora’s box.
ByteDance, owner of TikTok, says it wants to become a global company, and is considering re-establishing TikTok’s headquarters in major markets outside of the United States to better serve global users (apparently they are going to London).
ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming commented on his concern:
[…] the growing complexities in the geopolitical landscape and significant external pressure are enormous. We have always been committed to guaranteeing the security of user data, as well as the neutrality and transparency of the platform.
It seems that the next few weeks we will experience another historic moment in the political struggle between the United States and China, this time camouflaged as TikTok, not Huawei.
