China will not accept 'theft' of TikTok by Trump and the U.S, reports state-run China Daily

China isn't prepared to accept the "theft" of Chinese technology company TikTok, and has the capability to respond to Trump's move to push ByteDance to sell short-video app TikTok's U.S. operations to Microsoft, state-controlled China Daily newspaper said on Tuesday.

From Reuters:

The United States' "bullying" of Chinese tech companies was a consequence of Washington's zero-sum vision of "American first" and left China no choice but "submission or mortal combat in the tech realm", the state-backed paper said in an editorial.

China had "plenty of ways to respond if the administration carries out its planned smash and grab", it added.

Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) said on Monday it was in talks with ByteDance to buy parts of TikTok after U.S. President Donald Trump reversed course on a plan to ban the app on national security grounds and gave the firms 45 days to strike a deal.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said over the weekend that Trump would take action shortly against Chinese software companies that shared user data with the Chinese government.

More at Reuters.

Microsoft says it has Trump's permission to buy Tik Tok