Washington, January 21 . Donald Trump’s order to postpone the ban on TikTok for 75 days brought a wave of happiness among the country’s 170 million TikTok users. However, in China, where TikTok’s parent company is located, the US President’s decision was not welcomed with such enthusiasm.
According to CNN, the reason for China’s cold response is Trump’s suggestion in which he said that the company may have to give up 50% stake to avoid closure.
When asked about Trump’s vision for TikTok’s future, China’s Foreign Ministry said that ‘the operation and acquisition of companies should be decided by the companies’ and all this should be in accordance with Chinese law.
Spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Tuesday that the US should ‘seriously listen to the voice of reason’ and ‘provide an open, fair, equitable and non-discriminatory business environment’ for companies from all countries.
On Chinese social media, Washington’s policy on TikTok was seen as a US attempt to hamper Beijing’s technological capabilities. Along with this, Trump’s suggestion was also targeted.
According to the report, millions of users on social media platform Weibo flocked to hashtags related to a possible ’50-50 ownership’, many of whom condemned the US government’s ‘plunder’.
One comment with thousands of likes said, ‘Apple and Tesla should also give 50% of their shares to Chinese companies.’
Referring to the US chip maker, another commenter said, ‘We need 50% control of Nvidia!’
Hours after his swearing-in on Monday, Trump issued an executive order delaying the implementation of a controversial law by 75 days. According to the controversial law, TikTok should be banned in the US, unless it is sold to the US or one of its allies.
Trump has repeatedly suggested in recent days that he might be open to an American buyer buying half of the company and running it as a 50-50 joint venture with its current Chinese owner ByteDance.
It is unclear, however, whether TikTok or those US lawmakers who deny that the app poses a national security risk to Americans would accept that.
