Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo plans to avoid raising the subject of TikTok during her time in China, according to The New York Times, despite numerous concerns over the app’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have endeavored to regulate or ban TikTok for national security reasons, but Raimondo does not intend to talk about the app on the diplomatic trip, the NYT reported. TikTok’s parent company is Beijing-based ByteDance, which has an internal CCP committee, and was founded by an individual who affirmed ByteDance is a “mouthpiece” for the CCP, according to a 2020 Justice Department legal filing.
Raimondo underscored relational “stability” and collaboration in talks with top Chinese officials, according to the NYT. She also said the U.S. has no desire to decouple from China or damage its economy during her meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng.
“The U.S.-China commercial relationship is one of the most globally consequential, and managing that relationship responsibly is critical to both our nations and indeed to the whole world,” Raimondo stated. “And while we will never of course compromise in protecting our national security, I want to be clear that we do not seek to decouple or to hold China’s economy back.”
Raimondo previously said Democrats would permanently lose millions of young voters if President Joe Biden’s administration banned TikTok, according to Bloomberg.
“The politician in me thinks you’re going to literally lose every voter under 35, forever,” she said.
Biden’s reelection campaign is likely to utilize TikTok content creators to improve the president’s reputation with young voters, Axios reported in May. Young people are a critical voting bloc for Democrats, and TikTok is one of their preferred platforms.
Furthermore, according to allegations from a former executive, CCP members inside ByteDance had access to a “superuser” credential or “god credential” to view every piece of data the company gathered and had a “backdoor channel” to receive U.S. user information, according to The Wall Street Journal. TikTok stored thousands of TikTok creators’ financial information in China, including Social Security numbers and tax IDs, according to records obtained by Forbes. (RELATED: Biden Admin Removes Dozens Of Chinese Companies From Trade Blacklist Same Day Top Official Announces Beijing Visit)
Chinese commerce minister holds talks with U.S. counterpart for nearly four and half hours
Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao held talks with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Monday in Beijing and they had an in-depth conversation for nearly four and a half hours.… pic.twitter.com/A19Hsk7QSX— Zhang Heqing (@zhang_heqing) August 29, 2023
TikTok is banned on federal government devices as well as government devices in more than 30 states, according to CNN Business.
The Commerce Department, TikTok and ByteDance did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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