BEIJING (BLOOMBERG, AFP) - China emphasised its right on Thursday (Sept 3) to approve or block the sale of technology abroad, confirming it will play a critical role in the sale of TikTok's United States operations to suitors including Microsoft and Oracle.
Beijing's assertion jeopardises negotiations over the sale of the short-video app TikTok, a complex deal already under scrutiny by US President Donald Trump's administration.
The Chinese government last Friday added several artificial intelligence features to a list of export-restricted technologies, effectively gaining the right to block a deal by targeting features such as the recommendation algorithms essential to the viral video service.
The regulatory changes are not targeted at specific companies, Mr Gao Feng, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, stressed during a weekly online briefing on Thursday. But companies should consult with the relevant government agencies should any technology they employ fall under the list, he added.
"If related enterprises are transferring technology abroad during trade, investment or technical cooperation that fall under the regulations, they are advised to immediately consult provincial-level commerce department offices and handle that in accordance with the law," Mr Gao said.
TikTok has been at the centre of a diplomatic storm between Washington and Beijing.
Mr Trump has ordered TikTok's parent company, Chinese Internet giant Bytedance, to sell its US assets.
He and other White House officials said the app could be a Trojan horse for data gathering by the Chinese Communist Party, an accusation that ByteDance has denied.
Beijing's last-minute entry and its opaque deal-approval process increase the likelihood that a sale could get held up and Mr Trump will then move ahead with a TikTok ban ahead of November's election.
It is likely that the need for approval from two geopolitical rivals will push any final deal beyond the November vote in the United States, a person familiar with the matter has said.
ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming is now said to be reconsidering his options and may well seize upon Beijing's last-minute involvement to tie up a deal.
For China, the move helps it gain leverage to prevent what state-run media called the "theft" of technology while underscoring to the US that it has intellectual property worth protecting.
