It looks like China may not approve TikTok's potential US deal with Oracle and Walmart.
As reported by The Global Times – via Reuters – China considers the tactics used by Trump and the US to be of a bullying nature. As tensions continue to rise between the two nations, the Chinese government has no intentions of bowing to demands made by the political party in the US.
"It is clear that these articles (terms) extensively show Washington's bullying style and hooligan logic. They hurt China’s national security, interests and dignity," reads The Global Times.
Initially, US president Donald Trump wanted to ban the Chinese short-form video app, he went so far as to sign an executive order to ensure the app would be removed from the country. However, Trump was open to the possibility of a deal – despite also giving ByteDance and TikTok 90 days to divest all US operations.
"There's no way the Chinese government will accept your demand. You can ruin TikTok’s U.S. business, if U.S. users do not object, but you can't rob it and turn it into a U.S. baby," said Global Times editor-in-chief Hu Xijin.
Deal, or no deal?
While China could still put a stop to the agreement between TikTok, Walmart and Oracle, the clip app has asked for its valuation to be at $60 billion in the deal. Therefore, for the retail and software giants to acquire 7.5 per cent and 12.5 per cent respectively, they would need to pay a combined $12 billion.
However, as pointed out by the Global Times, TikTok and its Chinese version Douyin share the same source code, which would enable the US to learn the operations of DouYin should the deal go ahead.
"As TikTok and Douyin should have the same source code, this means the US can get to know the operations of Douyin," said The Global Times.
"If the reorganization of TikTok under US manipulation becomes a model, it means once any successful Chinese company expands its business to the US and becomes competitive, it will be targeted by the US and turned into a US-controlled company via trickery and coercion, which eventually serves only US interests."
