Any forced deals of TikTok won't be accepted: China Daily editorial

The lasting saga surrounding TikTok in the United States seems to be nearing an end with US President Donald Trump claiming on Friday that "we pretty much have a deal" on the highly popular Chinese short video-sharing app.

According to US administration officials, the deal set to be finalized would include TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance turning over its US operations to a new company with a majority US ownership, with the possible investors comprising Oracle, Blackstone, Andreessen Horowitz and others. ByteDance, which is based in China, would reportedly maintain a minority ownership in the new company under the 20 percent threshold as required by US Congress.

There were also previous reports that a consortium organized by billionaire business executive Frank McCourt had offered ByteDance $20 billion in cash for TikTok's US platform.

The so-called controversy over TikTok is a typical example of the US abusing the concept of national security and resorting to bullying to acquire the algorithms of the Chinese high-tech company. In doing so, it is once again trampling on market rules to seize what it wants. China has vowed to stand up against US economic coercion targeting its companies.

Some politicians in Washington have long spread disinformation about TikTok serving as a tool for the Chinese government to manipulate content and access data from US users thus posing a serious threat to US national security, though they have failed to provide any substantial evidence to support the claim.

Despite the glaring lack of due cause, then president Joe Biden signed a sale-or-ban law last year requiring ByteDance to divest the app to a US owner. The US Supreme Court's ruling against TikTok in January, rejecting its appeal, hit the last nail in the coffin for the app in the US unless ByteDance accepted the "life support" offer of transferred ownership.

Trump, after taking office, signed an executive order on Jan 20 delaying the ban for 75 days to allow his administration time "to determine the appropriate course forward". He later extended the deadline for TikTok to be banned or sold pending a possible deal, given that the app served as a major campaign tool, contributing to his victory in the presidential election, in addition to the fact that around half the US population, many of them youths, use TikTok, and 7 million US businesses are on the app.

China has repeatedly asserted that it holds an open attitude toward normal cross-border commercial activities, and supports Chinese enterprises, including high-tech companies, engaging in mutually beneficial cooperation, so long as they abide by local laws and respect market principles.

In the case of TikTok's possible divestiture in the US, the Chinese government has made it clear that it respects corporate independence, but it opposes any forced deal.

When the US' intention was first mooted in early 2023, a Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesperson said in the government's first direct response to the matter that China would oppose any forced sale of TikTok's US operations, stating how a sale or divestiture of the app would proceed must be subject to Chinese laws on technology exports.

The spokesperson also rejected the unwarranted accusations targeting Chinese companies and pointed out the suppression they face on the false ground of safeguarding "national security".

Believing that it best serves the interests of both sides, China seeks to address the frictions that have emerged with the US in the high-tech sphere, especially in such areas as data sovereignty and content regulation, through constructive dialogue and collaboration.

Now that the US administration is touting a possible deal on TikTok is reportedly in sight, winding up a legal battle in the US that may have far-reaching implications for global digital economies, it is up to Washington to take the chance to recalibrate its aggressive policies targeting Chinese high-tech companies, so that the two sides can "seek win-win results in the spirit of equality and respect for each other's concerns".

For its own good, the US should provide an open, fair, just and nondiscriminatory business environment for businesses from all countries to operate in the country, otherwise any claim that it is "great again" will simply be a pipe dream.