TikTok ban: China fuming over bill is 'supremely ironic', says US envoy. Gives this reason

The US ambassador to China on Friday (Mar 15) labelledBeijing's opposition to a potential TikTok ban in the United States "supremely ironic," given the ruling Communist Party's censorship of online platforms within the nation's borders.

Nicholas Burns'remarks came after Beijing reacted sharply to a House of Representatives bill seeking to compel the Chinese-owned video-sharing platform to disinvest or face an outright ban.

A spokesperson for China's foreign ministry on Thursday (Mar 14) said there was "no fairness to speak of" in citing national security as the reason for the proposed ban.

Unfair practice

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said, "The US House of Representatives passing this bill lets the United States stand on the opposite side of the principles of fair competition and international trade rules."

"If so-called national security reasons can be used to wilfully suppress other countries' superior companies, there would be no fairness to speak of," he alleged.

Dismissing China's concerns, the US ambassador remarked he found Beijing's stance unjustified.

"I find it supremely ironic that government officials here in China... have been criticising the United States for the debate we're currently having on TikTok," Burns said when speaking duringan online seminar held by the East-West Center, a US-based research organisation.

"They won't even let TikTok be available to 1.4 billion Chinese," he added.

US TikTok ban

The proposed ban on the popular short-video app TikTok is the latest in a series of moves by Washington to address security concerns about China.

As per Reuters news agency, the bill, which sailed through theUS House of Representatives, sets a tight deadline for ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company, to shed its American assets or face the ban.

China reiterates problems with the US

This is only the latest in the ongoing tug-of-war between the two global powers.

Beijing has persistently accused Washington of wielding the banner of national security as a Trojan horse to disrupt normal international trade order.

"The US increasing the (serious) handling of this matter lets the world see clearly whether the United States' so-called rules-based competition is beneficial to the world or is only self-serving," said Wenbin.

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On the American side, lawmakers have sounded the alarm over the spectre of TikTok passing on American user data to Chinese authorities.

However, the Chinese spokesperson was quick to dismiss such claims and said that the US had no evidence of TikTok violating national security.

TikTok's CEO Shou Zi Chew has also vehemently denied the allegations and said the firm has never shared, or received a request to share, US user data with the Chinese government, adding, "Nor would TikTok honour such a request if one were ever made."

(With inputs from agencies)