China will not accept the “theft” of a Chinese technology company and is able to respond to Washington’s move to push ByteDance to sell short-video app TikTok’s US operations to Microsoft, the China Daily newspaper said on Tuesday.
“DO NOT OPEN PANDORA’S BOX”
The United States’ “bullying” of Chinese tech companies was a consequence of Washington’s zero-sum vision of “American first” and left China no choice but “submission or mortal combat in the tech realm”, the state-backed paper said in an editorial. China had “plenty of ways to respond if the administration carries out its planned smash and grab”, it added.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin slammed US the move as political manipulation. In a press briefing Tuesday, Wang said: “The US, without providing any evidence, has been using an abused concept of national security… unjustifiably suppressing certain non-US companies.”
He added that the companies conduct their business activities in accordance with international rules and US laws. “But the US is cracking down on them on trumped-up charges,” said Wang and warned the US not to “open Pandora’s box”.