China says it 'firmly opposes' a forced sale of TikTok
China has officially declared that they "firmly oppose" any forced sale of TikTok as a direct response to the demands made by the Biden administration that the app's Chinese owners sell their share of the company or face a ban in its most important market.
The response shortly came after TikTok CEO Shou Chew testified in front of US lawmakers amid mounting scrutiny over the app's ties to Beijing, reports CNN.
In a statement released on Thursday, China's commerce ministry stated that a forced sale of TikTok would "seriously damage" global investors' confidence in the United States.
"If the news [about a forced sale] is true, China will firmly oppose it," Shu Jueting, a spokeswoman for the ministry, told a Thursday news conference in Beijing, adding that any potential deal would need approval from the Chinese government.
"The sale or divestiture of TikTok involves technology export, and administrative licensing procedures must be performed in accordance with Chinese laws and regulations," she said.
"The Chinese government will make a decision in accordance with the law."
Beijing had not made any official statements about the potential forced sale until 2020, when it had signaled it wanted to protect Chinese technology by adding recommendation algorithms, which could include TikTok's, to a list of technologies restricted for export.
Chew had his first congressional hearing on Thursday which sought to provide nuanced answers and tried to assuage lawmakers' worries about the company and its parent, Beijing-based Bytedance.
However, during the five-hour testimony, he was frequently interrupted and called evasive by lawmakers. The lawmakers expressed deep skepticism about his company's attempts to protect US user data and ease concerns about its ties to China.
According to experts, that means there will likely be more attempts by the US to ban TikTok if the company does not spin itself off from its Chinese parent.
The Chinese government may have veto power on the sale, according to Shu's latest response and Beijing's previous actions.
To prevent a forced sale, Chinese officials proposed tightening the rules that govern the sale of content-based recommendation algorithms to foreign buyers.
When the Trump administration threatened to ban TikTok unless it was sold, Chinese regulators added algorithms to the restricted list of technologies in 2020.
Analysts and legal experts believe that China may ultimately prefer for TikTok to leave the US market rather than surrender its algorithm.
The TikTok algorithms are designed in a way to provide recommendations based on users' behavior, thus pushing videos they are more likely to watch.
The algorithms are known to be the key to the tech giant's success.