THE TECH RIVALRY between
the US and China has resurfaced after an earlier attempt to ban the social
network TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, on national security
grounds.
The United States sees
the platform as a threat due to security issues and the company's alleged
relationship with the Chinese government.
US President Joe Biden
has said he will sign the bill if Congress decides to block access to TikTok,
and the House of Representatives passes it, paving the way for a nationwide ban
on TikTok because it "poses a national security problem."
In Beijing, Foreign
Ministry spokesman Wang Wanbin accused the United States of using national
security concerns to use government powers to suppress TikTok, despite the lack
of evidence that its national security is threatened.
The TikTok case has shown
once again that the United States insists on law and order that only benefits
Washington, he added.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew
said in a video statement that the company would do everything possible to
protect the app, claiming that banning it would jeopardize the jobs of 300,000
Americans.