Beijing proxies voice support for TikTok as the ByteDance-owned video app faces bans in US, EU
- The Chinese ambassador to the EU tweeted that he was ‘very disappointed’, adding that the EU should ‘respect the principles of market economy and fair competition’
- A TikTok representative said the ‘rushed piece of legislation’ may have a ‘negative impact on the free speech rights of millions of Americans’
Chinese diplomats and state media are stepping up to criticise Western politicians seeking to ban TikTok in their respective countries, in contrast to the ongoing silence from the Beijing-based owner of the popular video app.
ByteDance, the Chinese tech conglomerate that owns the app, has remained silent on the issue, while a TikTok representative said it was “disappointed” that the “rushed piece of legislation” may have a “negative impact on the free speech rights of millions of Americans who use and love” the app.
Fu Cong, Chinese ambassador to the EU, tweeted on Wednesday night that he was “very disappointed”, adding that “it is in the EU’s interest to … respect the principles of market economy and fair competition”.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Wednesday that the EU’s decision to ban TikTok on staff phones “undermines global confidence in the EU business environment”.
A day earlier, Mao said the US government had “overstretched the concept of national security and abused state power to suppress foreign companies” after it set a 30-day deadline to delete TikTok from federal devices.
TikTok is not available in mainland China or Hong Kong. Its sister version, called Douyin, has more than 600 million daily active users in China.