China urges the United States to create an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises operating in the U.S., Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lin Jian said on Monday.
Lin made the statement at a press conference in Beijing in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks on Sunday that China's objections to new U.S. tariffs stalled a deal to sell off the popular video-sharing app TikTok and keep it operating in the U.S.
"With regard to issues involving TikTok, China has previously stated its principled position on many occasions. The Chinese side will deal with the relevant issues in accordance with Chinese law and regulations. The U.S. side should provide an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises operating in the U.S.," Lin said.
In his first term, Trump signed an executive order effectively seeking to ban the app in the United States unless its parent company ByteDance sells its U.S. operations to an American company, but the order didn't go into effect amid legal challenges.
In April 2024, then U.S. President Joe Biden signed a law that gave ByteDance 270 days to sell TikTok, citing unfounded national security concerns. If the company failed to comply, the law would require app store operators such as Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their platforms starting on Jan. 19, 2025.
Trump, who took office on Jan. 20, signed an executive order to delay the TikTok ban by 75 days "to permit my Administration an opportunity to determine the appropriate course of action with respect to TikTok." Before the April 5 expiration date of the extension, Trump said on social media that he would grant ByteDance an additional 75-day extension to either sell the app to a non-Chinese company or risk being banned in the United States.
China urges U.S. to create non-discriminatory business environment: spokesman
China urges U.S. to create non-discriminatory business environment: spokesman
China and other member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), pledged to enhance sustainable development cooperation at a Thursday conference in Tianjin, ahead of this year's SCO summit.
As the rotating chair for this year, China is to host the SCO summit in Tianjin this autumn. The China-SCO Conference on Industrial Cooperation for Sustainable Development is one of the activities organized during a promotion event from Wednesday to Friday. It aims to promote cooperation in fields like infrastructure, energy, mining and petrifaction.
Nearly 400 guests, including government officials and enterprises from SCO member states attended the opening session.
"In 2024, China's trade volume with SCO member states, observer states and dialogue partners reached a record high of 890 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for about 14.4 percent of China's total foreign trade volume, fully demonstrating the tremendous vitality and broad prospects of trade development within the region," said Ling Ji, vice minister of commerce and deputy China international trade representative, at the conference.
As China has extensive experience in promoting sustainable development, attendees from SCO member states expressed hope to strengthen cooperation with China across various sectors, said SCO Deputy Secretary General Sohail Khan.
"China plays a very, very important, significant role in sustainable development, as I said, so we are expecting that in the sustainable development context, all member states have lot to gain and learn from China on its achievements in various areas, like agricultural industries, energy, high tech, information technology, and robot AI," he said.
By the end of 2024, China's investment stocks in SCO member states, observer states and dialogue partners have exceeded 140 billion U.S. dollars, with the total value of contracts signed by Chinese enterprises in these countries exceeding one trillion U.S. dollars and the completed turnover surpassing 680 billion U.S. dollars.
In 2024, about 19,000 China-Europe freight train ran through the SCO region, marking a year-on-year increase of 10.7 percent and significantly promoting regional connectivity and economic development.
China, SCO member states pledge deeper sustainable development cooperation
