Banning TikTok Would "Come Back To Bite US Itself": China
China warned Washington that its ban on TikTok would “come back to bite” US. Responding to a bill proposed by US lawmakers, which green flagged the nationwide banning of Chinese owned social media platform TikTok, Beijing said it would have repercussion on US.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry called the proposed ban an “act of bullying”, ahead of the voting by the US House of Representatives. Wang Wenbin, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said that, “although the United States has never found evidence that TikTok threatens US national security, it has not stopped suppressing TikTok”.
He said the ban on the app will disrupt companies’ normal business activity, damages the confidence of international investors in the investment environment, and damages the normal international economic and trade order. “In the end, this will inevitably come back to bite the United State itself”, said Wenbin, as quoted by AFP.
US lawmakers of both Democrats and Republicans have been voicing concerns over the national security issues the app causes. The lawmakers expressed that Chinese government could use the parent company of TikTok, ByteDance, to hand over the data of US citizens who are using the app. The parent company rubbished the lawmakers claims.
Reportedly, the new bill that was passed in the US House, in the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, could impose a nationwide ban on TikTok.
In a rather rare appearance of bipartisanship, the bill was passed with 352-65 votes. 50 Democrats and 15 Republicans voted against the bill. The bill is now passed to Senate, from where it is not clear whether the bill will be passed with needed support.
US President, Joe Biden earlier said that he would sign the bill, if it reaches his desk. If the bill is passed, the app will be banned in US app stores, unless the app, which is used by over 170 million Americans is sold by its parent company within six months.
The social media platform’s chief, Shou Chew said that if the bill were to be passed into law, that would cost hundreds of thousands of American jobs and take “billions of dollars out of the pockets of creators and small businesses”.
