Hong Kong
CNN
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China’s government on Monday sidestepped a question on US President Donald Trump’s recent claim that he “pretty much” has a deal with Beijing to bring TikTok into American ownership and that talks with China over the popular short-video app could begin early this week.
TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance is under pressure to spin off the short-video app’s US operations by September 17 or face a ban in the United States. Last year, then President Joe Biden signed a sale-or-ban law, requiring ByteDance to divest the app to an American owner over national security concerns. Despite an original January deadline, Trump has repeatedly delayed enforcement of the law.
“China has reiterated its principle and position on issues related to TikTok on multiple occasions,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Monday in response to a request for an update on the latest TikTok talks, without providing further details.
When previously asked about the TikTok deal, the Foreign Ministry has urged the US to provide an “open, fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment” for Chinese businesses, and said that acquisition of businesses should be “independently decided by companies in accordance with market principles.”
The Chinese government has given little indication that it would approve a forced sale. In early 2023, a Commerce Ministry spokeswoman said in the government’s first direct response to the matter that China would oppose any forced sale of TikTok, citing how a sale or divestiture of the app would involve “exporting technology” and had to be approved by the Chinese government. TikTok’s “algorithm” is widely seen as the app’s secret sauce behind its explosive popularity.
In the US, TikTok boasts over 170 million monthly active users, according to the company early last year. Over 60% of American teens and about a third of American adults use the social media platform, according to a Pew Research Center study, for news, entertainment, or even to earn a living.
On Friday, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that the US “pretty much” has a deal on the sale of the app, though he said he’s “not confident” China would approve the deal.
“I think we’re going to start Monday or Tuesday…talking to China perhaps President Xi or one of his representatives, but we pretty much have a deal on TikTok,” he said, referring to Chinese leader Xi Jinping. He added the deal would “probably” have to be approved by China.
CNN has reached out to ByteDance and TikTok for comment.
In late June, Trump said that there was a buyer for TikTok, teasing an announcement in two weeks. “It’s a group of very wealthy people,” he said on a Fox News program then, without providing more details.
A deal that would transfer control of the app’s US operations to American ownership had been on the horizon. But Trump’s announcements of “reciprocal” tariffs that brought levies on Chinese imports to the US to 54% on April 2 prompted China to pull out of the deal, CNN reported earlier.
Based on the law, ByteDance can own no more than 20% of the platform in the final deal, and the app’s US operations cannot coordinate with ByteDance on the app’s algorithm or data-sharing practices.
Alex Capri, a lecturer at the Business School of the National University of Singapore, told CNN that he doubts Beijing would approve the sale.
“Even if Beijing would choose to overlook the recent tariff hikes and ratcheting up of US export controls on Chip technologies, they still wouldn’t grant export licenses for the algorithms,” he said.
On Sunday, American tech media The Information reported that TikTok is building a new version of its app for US users to be launched ahead of the September deadline. Users will need to download the new app to continue using its platform while the existing app will shut down by March next year, it said.
