Reuters reported on Friday - citing three people familiar with the
matter - that Beijing opposes the forced sale of Tik Tok operations in the
United States by its Chinese owner, ByteDance, and is favoring to close the
short video app in the United States.
And ByteDance has been in talks to sell TikTok businesses in the
United States to potential buyers, including: Microsoft and Oracle, since US
President Donald Trump threatened last month to block the service unless the
sale was made. Trump gave ByteDance a deadline in mid-September to complete the
deal.
However, Chinese officials believe the forced sale will make both
ByteDance and China appear vulnerable in the face of Washington's pressure,
sources said Reuters, who spoke on the condition of anonymity given the
sensitivity of the situation.
In a statement to Reuters, ByteDance said: The Chinese government has
never suggested that it close TikTok in the United States or any other market.
And two sources said: China is ready to use the changes it made to
the technology export list on August 28 to postpone any agreement reached by
ByteDance, if it should.
In response to Friday's question about Trump and Tik Tok, a Chinese
Foreign Ministry spokesman (Zhao Lijian) said at a regular press conference:
The United States is misusing the concept of national security, and urged it to
stop cracking down on foreign companies.
Reuters had previously reported that potential buyers of TikTok were
discussing four ways to structure the acquisition from ByteDance. One of those
methods is for the latter to proceed with selling US TikTok assets without the
approval of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce by selling them without major
algorithms.
US officials criticized TikTok's security and privacy, pointing to
the possibility of sharing user data with Beijing. The company said: It will
not comply with any request to share user data with the Chinese authorities.
Beijing said: It strongly opposes Trump's executive orders, and on
August 28, it moved to give its opinion on the process, and to review the list
of technologies that will need approval by the Chinese government before they
are exported. The experts said the recommendation algorithm for TikTok would
fall under this list.
Dear readers, after reading the Content please ask for advice and to provide constructive feedback Please Write Relevant Comment with Polite Language.Your comments inspired me to continue blogging. Your opinion much more valuable to me. Thank you.