Beijing slams new US bill’s anti-China measures

China has warned it will take ‘strong and resolute measures’ to counter the impact of new US legislation authorising billions in military aid to Taiwan and action against popular Chinese app TikTok as well as fentanyl-related sanctions.

The bill, which President Biden signed 24 April, grants more than $8bn in military support for Taiwan; includes a ban on popular video-sharing app TikTok unless it divests from its Chinese parent company; and calls for fentanyl-related sanctions, which the US has already imposed on some companies in China.

‘China firmly rejects the US passing and signing into law the military aid package containing negative content on China. We have lodged serious representations to the US,’ Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian said at a news briefing in Beijing, 29 April. ‘This package gravely infringes upon China’s sovereignty. It includes large military aid to Taiwan, which seriously violates the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués, and sends a seriously wrong signal to “Taiwan independence” separatist forces,’ he said.

Without referring to TikTok by name, the official said, ‘The legislation undermines the principles of market economy and fair competition by wantonly going after other countries’ companies in the name of “national security,” which once again reveals the US’s hegemonic and bullying nature.’

Many US officials and lawmakers claim TikTok is a ‘national security’ concern because the personal data of users in America could end up in the hands of the Chinese government, an allegation denied by the app’s owner, ByteDance.

The Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the new resolution ‘advocates sanctions on China in disregard of the huge amount of work China has done to help the US address its fentanyl crisis.’

He added, ‘The legislation also threatens to impose unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction over normal economic and trade exchanges between China and Iran under the framework of international law, which creates serious obstacles for China-US cooperation in relevant areas…We urge the US to respect China’s core interests and major concerns, and not to implement these negative articles concerning China. Otherwise China will take strong and resolute measures to safeguard our sovereignty, security and development interests.’