Earlier this week, Microsoft announced that it was looking into buying TikTok’s US operations following “personal” assurances from President Donald Trump. This news came soon after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the US was considering banning TikTok in view of its ties to the Chinese government.
However, since the announcement, things have transgressed unexpectedly. In a recent report, the China Daily newspaper said that the US is ‘bullying’ the Chinese company into selling its tech, and the country will not accept this. The state-backed paper termed this act as ‘theft’ communicating that China is able to, and will, respond to Washington’s move.
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According to the editorial, this act from Washington was a consequence of Washington’s zero-sum vision of “American first.” The Chinese government is left with no choice but “submission or mortal combat in the tech realm.” The paper added that China has plenty of ways to respond if “the administration carries out its planned smash and grab.”
In other news, Pompeo, over the weekend, announced that President Donald Trump would take action against the Chinese application shortly. The government is most likely waiting for the deal with Microsoft to go forward. If it does not, the Trump government will most likely ban the application entirely.
As the Global Times reported, this is the US’s attempt to separate its economy from China’s.
