China Defends TikTok's Lawsuit to Protect Its Interests

A close-up shows the video-sharing application TikTok on a smart phone. TikTok announced it would launch a court action over Donald Trump's plan to ban the app.

Published 24 August 2020

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A spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, Zhao Lijian, openly supported the company and others in taking up legal weapons to defend their rights and interests.

In response to questions concerning the lawsuits that TikTok and some WeChat users have filed against the U.S. government executive order banning TikTok in the United States, Lijian defended their decision, assuring that "China will also continue to take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises."

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He went on to say that some U.S. politicians are trying to destroy these Chinese companies, along with Huawei, because they have caught the "anti-China syndrome" and will attack anything Chinese.

These reckless actions by various U.S. officials are essentially coordinated and targeted bullying against outperforming non-US multinational companies, whose success the U.S. elite fears and would resort to state power to pummel if necessary, Lijian added.

RT @zlj517: China supports TikTok and relevant companies in taking up legal weapons to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests. To this end, China will take all necessary measures.
pic.twitter.com/AnEahmJdo8
— China Observer (@ChinaObserver2) August 24, 2020

"This is a repudiation of the principle of market economy and fair competition that the United States has always boasted about. This is trampling on international rules and disrupting exchanges and cooperation in science, technology, and innovation riding the trend of globalization. The world will only see more clearly the true face of these self-serving bandit-like politicians," the spokesperson added.

TikTok, the rapidly rising video-sharing social network service, belongs to ByteDance, the Beijing-based Internet technology company founded in 2012. On August 7th, as part of the Trump administration's increasing hostility towards the Asian giant, the U.S. president signed an executive order prohibiting all U.S. firms from engaging in transactions with ByteDance, taking effect within 45 days if the company does not sell its application to a U.S. company.

TikTok, which sued the U.S. government Monday, accused the Trump administration of denying it due process and infringing on the rights of its employees and the broader community.