China ever-so slightly softens stance on possible US TikTok sale

China appears to have softened its stance on the possible sale of TikTok’s US operations and is now perhaps open to the idea.

The change emerged in the daily briefing of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a daily Q&A between a Ministry spokesperson and media from around the world. Beijing rates the briefing as sufficiently important that it publishes a transcript of each session.

When the US government first passed the law that forces TikTok’s owner ByteDance to divest its US operations or shutter the service stateside, the Ministry spokesperson criticized it strongly, stating that it “puts the US on the wrong side of the principles of fair competition and international trade rules.” China also protested the US had not produced evidence to back claims that TikTok represents a national security risk.

China’s Ministry of Commerce also publishes transcripts of some press conferences, and in March 2023 a spokesperson commented that China will “resolutely oppose” any forced sale.

On Monday, however, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson offered a different take on the matter.

Asked about President Donald Trump’s proposal for the US government to acquire half of TikTok’s US operation in a joint venture with private entity, spokesperson Mao Ning responded as follows:

That’s a shift from resolute opposition and criticism of the sell-or-shut-down law, raising the prospect that Beijing may be open to a sale.

However the reference to a transaction being subject to Chinese law is a holdover from previous positions, and Beijing has plenty of legal levers to pull if it decides to halt a transaction.

At the time of writing, President Trump had not published an executive order regarding TikTok. The Register will update this story if one appears. One order that does impact TikTok, and other social networks, is titled Restoring Free Speech and Ending Federal Censorship and proclaims that the US government has exerted “substantial coercive pressure on third parties, such as social media companies, to moderate, deplatform, or otherwise suppress speech that the Federal Government did not approve.”

The new administration prohibits Federal Government officers or employees from doing anything to “unconstitutionally abridge” the free speech of any US citizen, and pledges to “identify and take appropriate action to correct past misconduct by the Federal Government related to censorship of protected speech.”

That’s likely a reference to Biden administration efforts to have social media companies consider content felt to contain misinformation about COVID-19. ®