China cautioned on Wednesday that a possible TikTok ban would have adverse effects on the United States later on.
The House is set to vote on a bill on Wednesday morning. This bill would make ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, sell the app or else it would be banned in the U.S.
The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, stated that despite a lack of evidence showing that TikTok poses a threat to U.S. national security, the U.S. continues to suppress TikTok.
He added that such bullying behavior disrupts normal business operations, damages international investors' confidence, and harms the global economic and trade order.
Wang continued to say that ultimately, this would negatively impact the United States itself.
House Republicans were optimistic on Tuesday about the bill's passage, despite former President Trump expressing his opposition to a potential TikTok ban.
The former president, who secured the GOP nomination on Tuesday night, suggested that a TikTok ban would strengthen Facebook.
Trump mentioned on Monday that many people, especially young users, love TikTok and would struggle without it. He also expressed concerns about Facebook becoming more prominent without TikTok.
He also criticized Facebook, referring to it as an enemy of the people and the media, while acknowledging both positive and negative aspects of TikTok.
Facebook suspended Trump in January 2021 following the Capitol riots. His account was later reinstated.
Trump's current stance on TikTok marks a significant change from when he was in office. In 2020, he pledged to ban the app from operating in the U.S. However, his order to force ByteDance to divest from TikTok's U.S. operations was later blocked by the court.
Following a meeting with Jeff Yass, a major GOP donor and TikTok investor, Trump stated that TikTok was not discussed during the conversation.
