'Stop extorting': Chinese stooge slams Trump for trying to turn TikTok into a 'US baby'

US President Donald Trump has threatened to cut off TikTok if popular Chinese video-sharing app's tentative deal with two American companies Walmart and Oracle to create a new US-based service does t go through.

Rattled by this, Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of Chinese mouthpiece Global Times, asked US leader to "stop extorting"  Chinese-owned company and stated that "re's way Chinese government will accept your demand". He 'cautioned' that Trump can ruin TikTok's US business, if country's users do t object, but he can't turn company into a "US baby".

China’s ByteDance, on September 21, said that TikTok’s global business will become its subsidiary, even though Oracle and Walmart Inc said that y and US investors would own majority of video app. While Trump last week said that he supported a deal in principle that would allow TikTok to continue to operate in America, ByteDance, on or hand, said that it will own 80% of TikTok Global, which is a newly created American company that will own most of app’s operations worldwide. 

According to a Chinese media outlet, Toutiao, ByteDance in a statement said that it was a "rumour" that US investors would be TikTok Global’s majority owners. company said that it will retain full control of its prized social media algorithms and allow Oracle only limited access to view source code for ‘safety’ purposes. 

Speaking in an interview on Monday, Trump said he wouldn’t approve deal if Chinese company retains control of TikTok. However, he also indicated that he expected Chinese influence to be diluted by a future public offering of new company.

“y will have thing to do with it, and if y do, we just won’t make deal,” Trump said, referring to ByteDance. “It’s going to be controlled, totally controlled by Oracle, and I guess y’re going public and y’re buying out rest of it — y’re buying out a lot, and if we find that y don’t have total control n we’re t going to approve deal.”

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TikTok ban in US

US last week issued orders to ban popular Chinese social media apps - TikTok and WeChat - to 'safeguard national security'. ban on downloading TikTok, originally scheduled to take effect on Sunday, was postponed to September 27, according to US Department of Commerce.

Last month, President Trump signed an executive order to ban TikTok and WeChat by September 15 unless ownership of two Chinese companies changed to American. TikTok made its debut in US in 2018 and sees American traffic of more than 100 million users each month.

(With inputs from ncies)

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