China says US 'overreacting' by banning TikTok on federal devices

US and China tensions are already exacerbated by two fresh controversies around Russia's war on Ukraine and COVID-19 origins. Amid this, another one played out on Tuesday when China struck back at US for stepping up its attempts to ban the Chinese video-sharing network TikTok from work phones of its federal employees.

Terming the Washington's move to outlaw TikTok an "overreaction", Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said, "We firmly oppose those wrong actions."

"The US government should respect the principles of market economy and fair competition, stop suppressing the companies and provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory environment for foreign companies in the US," she added while speaking to the reporters on Tuesday.

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White House on Monday provided government agencies 30 days to ban the use of TikTok from federal devices. Ning said that US is fearful of young people's favourite app like TikTok.

US Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young told agencies in a guidance memorandum seen by Reuters news agency that to keep US data safe, all federal agencies must eliminate TikTok from phones and systems and prohibit internet traffic from reaching the company.

Moreover, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will vote on Tuesday on a bill that would give US President Joe Biden the authority to ban TikTok from all US devices.

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The vote comes in the wake of security concerns raised by US lawmakers that Beijing uses Chinese companies to snoop on Americans. "My bill empowers the administration to ban TikTok or any software applications that threaten U.S. national security," Representative Mike McCaul, the committee chair, said.

"Anyone with TikTok downloaded on their device has given the (Chinese Communist Party) a backdoor to all their personal information. It’s a spy balloon into your phone."

Many government agencies had already banned TikTok from government devices before the vote. They are: the White House, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and the State Department.

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The US is the latest entrant to ban TikTok from being installed on government devices. Canada, the EU, Taiwan and more than half of the US states had already taken necessary action in this regard.

India had gone a step further and banned the video-sharing app for commercial proposes in the wake of the 2020 Galwan Valley clashes.

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