트럼프 "틱톡•위챗 모회사와 거래금지" 행정명령
U.S. President Donald Trump has given U.S. companies 45 days to stop dealing with ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, and WeChat, the messaging platform owned by Tencent, as he stepped up a campaign to clamp down on apps that he described as a threat to economic and national security.
TikTok has threatened legal action in the U.S. over Mr. Trump's order and Beijing has accused Washington of "political manipulation and suppresion."
Kim Jae-hee reports.
U.S. President Donald Trump, late on Thursday local time, issued an executive order that would ban any U.S. transactions with TikTok's parent company, ByteDance.
The order, which would come into effect in 45 days, prohibits any transaction with ByteDance by any person subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S.
The order would also ban TikTok from operating in the U.S. if it is not sold by its Chinese parent company ByteDance within 45 days.
China has firmly opposed Washington's moves to ban Chinese apps on U.S. app stores, saying such a move would be "ridiculous".
Beijing's Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the Trump administration on Thursday, saying Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other U.S. politicians are using national security as an excuse,... to suppress and contain China's high-tech firms.
"Their true intention is to maintain their own high-tech monopoly with those actions that violate market principles and international economic and trade rules and seriously threaten the security of the global industrial supply chain. It is typical bullying behavior."
The spokesperson went on to urge Washington to correct what he called "wrong practices".
The U.S. Senate on Thursday also unanimously voted to ban TikTok from being downloaded onto U.S. government-issued devices.
The tensions between Washington and Beijing are only expected to intensify further,... as Trump administration officials on Thursday urged Trump to delist Chinese companies that fail to meet U.S. auditing requirements from U.S. exchanges.
India is also making more moves on China.
The Indian government, which has already banned TikTok, has now done the same to more Chinese mobile apps, including those developed by Xiaomi and Baidu.
Kim Jae-hee, Arirang News.
