China accuses Trump administration of 'abusing' power by trying to ban TikTok

China has accused the US President Donald Trump administration on Monday, September 28 of abusing ‘national power’ by trying to ban TikTok. This came after Trump’s ban on the video-sharing app’s downloads were halted by US federal Judge Carl Nichols on Sunday that too, just a few hours before it was meant to go on effect. While the US federal judge provided more time to TikTok to get the approval of the concerned authorities in China and finalise a deal with Oracle and Walmart, as per reports, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin described Trump’s initial order as “bullying behaviour”. 

Amid soaring US-China relations over a range of issues, Wenbin reportedly also said that the order was a proof of US ‘abusing’ national power to ‘unreasonably’ suppress the companies of foreign nations. Instead, according to the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, the US should provide a ‘fair, just, open, and non-discriminatory’ environment for enterprises across the globe investing and operating in the United States.

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However, while China reportedly said that Trump administration is cornering the ByteDance-owned company into giving full ownership of the app, that reportedly has over 100 million American subscribers, to an American rival, the US federal court issued a temporary block on the order. TikTok’s lawyers have reportedly argued that the ban was ‘punitive’ and had political motives as opposed to genuine concerns over national security. More details on the injunction remain sealed as of now by the Washington court. 

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Trump’s attempts to limit TikTok’s US operations

US President Donald Trump had banned China’s ByteDance-owned app, TikTok in the US citing national security concerns. According to the executive order signed by Trump on August 6, all citizens and businesses in the country were to be banned from indulging in any transactions or deals with TikTok, Bytedance and WeChat which was to take effect in 45 days. 

On August 14, he signed another other giving time to ByteDance to disinvest in TikTok within 90 days and hand over control of operations in America. Soon after, the US Commerce Department postponed the ban on the app till September 27 allowing it time finalise the deal with Oracle and Walmart. Donald Trump also stated that the US partners of the company will need to have 'total control' of the operations of the app or the deal won't be approved. 

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