TikTok row: China won't allow a 'smash and grab' by US, says state media

China won’t accept the US’s “theft” of TikTok and may retaliate, state media said, raising the threat of Beijing’s opposition to Microsoft Corp.’s envisioned purchase of the social media app’s American operations.

The editorial published late Monday by the China Daily newspaper represented Beijing’s strongest defense yet of ByteDance and its viral video phenom. While the China Daily acknowledged that selling the US business “might be preferable” to ByteDance, the newspaper compared the process to officially sanctioned theft, a sentiment echoed in other prominent state media including the Communist Party’s Global Times newspaper. 

“With competitiveness now dependent on the ability to collect and use data, it offers an either-or choice of submission or mortal combat in the tech realm,” the China Daily said. “China will by no means accept the ‘theft’ of a Chinese technology company, and it has plenty of ways to respond if the administration carries out its planned smash and grab.”