Tik Tok Photo: IC

 
China firmly opposes the UK making up excuses to suppress Chinese enterprises, Chinese Ambassador to the UK Zheng Zeguang said on Tuesday in response to UK's ban of the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok from official government devices.

The Chinese government protects data and information security in accordance with the law and the related company has made it clear that it is committed to protecting users' data security, said Zheng while visiting Belfast and answering questions from Chinese and foreign media.

Such political manipulation of the UK will damage itself and others, making the widely popular social media app, especially for the group of young people, unavailable, Zheng said, urging the UK to respect the truth and stop a pattern of suppressing Chinese enterprises by generalizing and abusing the concept of national security.

The UK government announced on March 16 that TikTok would be banned on government electronic devices, following the US' lead due to so-called security concerns.

The Chinese Embassy in the UK then released a statement, urging the UK government to respect objective facts, abide by the rules of the market economy and the principles of fair competition.

A spokesperson from TikTok said "We believe these bans have been based on fundamental misconceptions and driven by wider geopolitics, in which TikTok, and our millions of users in the UK, play no part."