[ad_1]
Ahead of the looming deadline in mid-September that forces the sale of TikTok’s business in the US, Chinese officials say they would rather see the popular short-form video app shut down in the US. That being forced to make a sale, sources with direct knowledge of him told Reuters exclusively on Friday.
Parent company ByteDance has been in talks to sell TikTok’s US operations to potential buyers, including a joint offering from Microsoft and Walmart and a separate offering from Oracle.
The thinking within the Chinese government, according to the sources, is that a forced sale would make both ByteDance and China appear weak under pressure from Washington.
China is willing to use the revisions it made to a list of technology exports issued last month to delay any deal, if necessary, according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation.
ByteDance said in a statement to Reuters that the Chinese government had never suggested to it that it should shut down TikTok in the United States or any other market.
State officials in Beijing did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
