Banning TikTok violates competition principles, says Chinese ambassador

China’s ambassador to Brazil, Zhu Qingqiao, said in an interview with the newspaper The globe that the alleged risk to security and privacy caused by Chinese companies such as Huawei and TikTok is part of a “conspiracy theory” Made in the United States.

US President Joe Biden signed into law in April the bill that obliges the Chinese company ByteDance to sell TikTok in the United States within 1 year. If the social network is not managed regionally by a North American businessman, it will be banned in the country.

According to Qingqiao, the passage of the bill aims to suppress foreign companies under the pretext of national security. The ambassador stated that the decision is contrary to the principles of fair competition and the rules of international trade and economics.

“China is a market economy country, and Chinese companies operate completely independently and compete fairly. The US has a dirty record in cybersecurity, it has even carried out cyber surveillance and spying on authorities in many countries and international organizations.”these.

In the interview, the ambassador also stated that “some countries” use the internet as a tool to maintain their hegemony, disseminating false information.”based on ideological prejudices and political needs and even abuse information technologies to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries”. He did not elaborate on which nations he was referring to.

Regarding investments in Brazil, he stated that Chinese stock in the country is more than US$70 billion, in sectors such as oil and gas, electricity, agriculture, infrastructure, telecommunications and technology.

Qingqiao also said that China wants to create more points of cooperation with Brazil for growth in frontier areas, such as energy transition, digital economy, smart and low-carbon agriculture, biotechnology, information technology, artificial intelligence and aerospace.