Reuters: China would rather see TikTok US close than a forced sale

Beijing opposes a forced sale of TikTok's US operations by its Chinese owner ByteDance, and would prefer to see the short video app shut down in the United States, Report says, citing Reuters.

Chinese officials believe a forced sale would make both ByteDance and China appear weak in Washington's face of pressure. 

ByteDance said in a statement to Reuters that the Chinese government had never suggested that it should shut down TikTok in the United States or any other markets.

In August, President Donald Trump announced that TikTok would stop operating in the United States from September 15 unless Microsoft or another American company bought it.

Earlier, Trump said that the Chinese social networks TikTok and WeChat could collect information about American citizens and pose a threat to US national security.  ByteDance has reportedly two offers — from Oracle and a joint bid from Microsoft and Walmart. Final agreements can be reached within a few weeks. However, according to Bloomberg, Beijing is trying to slow down the sale of TikTok and delay this process at least until November.