OAN’s Elizabeth Volberding
12:43 PM – Monday, April 29, 2024
United States President Joe Biden recently approved a law that requires TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell the app or face being banned from the U.S.
China responded to this news by promising to take “resolute and forceful steps” to defend itself.
On Monday, Chinese officials suggested that it might take action in response to Biden’s signing of legislation that would strengthen Taiwan’s defenses and pressure TikTok’s Chinese owner to give up the social media app.
Last week, Biden signed the bill and approving the military aid package, most of which will go to Ukraine and Israel.
Along with the aid law, he also signed a bill that forbids TikTok from being used in the U.S. if ByteDance does not remove the app within the next nine months, with an additional three months if a deal is proven to be in the works.
“China firmly rejects the U.S. passing and signing into law the military aid package containing negative content on China,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian announced in a briefing Monday. “We have lodged serious representations to the U.S.”
“This package gravely infringes upon China’s sovereignty. It includes large military aid to Taiwan, which seriously violates the one-China principle… and sends a seriously wrong signal to ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces,” he added. “The legislation undermines the principles of market economy and fair competition by wantonly going after other countries’ companies in the name of ‘national security,’ which once again reveals the U.S.’s hegemonic and bullying nature.”
Taiwan, which China has been at odds with over territory, has praised the law, claiming it will help with security, according to Reuters.
“If the United States clings obstinately to its course, China will take resolute and forceful steps to firmly defend its own security and development interests,” Lin reportedly stated.
Even in the absence of formal diplomatic relations, the U.S. remains Taiwan’s most significant international supporter and arms supplier. China has consistently insisted that armament sales cease because it considers Taiwan to be its own territory.
The democratically elected government of Taiwan, which disputes China’s claims to sovereignty, has welcomed the new law, stating that it will contribute to regional security.
Meanwhile, legislators in the U.S. have accused TikTok of propagandizing, gathering user data, and endangering national security.
China has previously declared that it would be against TikTok being forced to sell. TikTok is now contemplating a lawsuit to overturn the rule, despite its long-standing denial that it poses a security risk.
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