China’s commerce ministry has said Beijing wants companies involved in the restructuring of TikTok’s U.S. operations to reach solutions that comply with Chinese laws and regulations and balance the interests of all parties.
This underscores its first substantive public comment as a long-negotiated deal to avert a U.S. ban on the app moves toward completion.
The remarks come weeks after TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, quietly signed binding agreements to hand over control of TikTok’s U.S. operations to an Oracle-led consortium, a breakthrough aimed at ending years of regulatory limbo and intense political pressure in Washington. Despite the significance of the transaction, Beijing has so far remained largely mum on the details of the deal, underscoring the sensitivity of the arrangement for Chinese authorities.
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Speaking at a regular press conference on Thursday, commerce ministry spokesperson He Yongqian said China’s position was consistent.
“The Chinese government would like to see companies reach solutions that comply with Chinese laws and regulations and balance the interests of all parties,” she said, when asked directly about the TikTok handover.
He added that Beijing expects reciprocal goodwill from Washington. “It is hoped that the U.S. side will work with China in the same direction, earnestly fulfill its corresponding commitments, and provide a fair, open, transparent and non-discriminatory business environment for the continuous and stable operation of Chinese enterprises in the United States,” she said.
The deal, brokered earlier this month after months of renewed negotiations, would see control of TikTok’s U.S. business transferred to a new entity majority-owned and governed by U.S. investors. Oracle, which already hosts TikTok’s U.S. user data under a long-running data security partnership, is expected to take a central role in overseeing data storage, security architecture, and compliance. Other U.S.-based financial investors are also part of the consortium, according to people familiar with the arrangement.
Under the terms agreed so far, ByteDance would retain a minority, non-controlling stake in the U.S. entity, while relinquishing operational control and governance rights. Three managing investors—Oracle Corporation, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi state investment firm MGX—will collectively hold 45% of the new company. Another 5% will be owned by additional new investors whose identities have not been fully disclosed. Affiliates of existing ByteDance investors will hold 30.1%.
The structure is designed to address U.S. national security concerns by ensuring that TikTok’s U.S. operations, including data handling and content moderation policies, are effectively ring-fenced from its China-based parent.
The transaction is expected to be finalized by January, a timeline that reflects pressure from U.S. lawmakers and regulators who have threatened to enforce legislation that could force TikTok off U.S. app stores if it fails to sever ties with ByteDance. TikTok has more than 170 million users in the United States, making it one of the most politically charged technology platforms in the country.
China’s cautious language reflects the legal and political constraints surrounding the deal. Beijing has repeatedly stressed that any transfer of TikTok-related technology, particularly its recommendation algorithms, must comply with China’s export control rules, which were updated in 2020 to cover advanced data-processing technologies. Those rules effectively give Chinese authorities veto power over the export of TikTok’s core algorithm, a key reason negotiations stalled in previous years.
While the latest arrangement is structured as a transfer of operational control rather than a full sale of technology, it still requires careful navigation of Chinese regulatory requirements. That sensitivity helps explain why Beijing has avoided explicit endorsement of the deal, even as talks advanced and binding agreements were signed.
The commerce ministry’s comments also reflect broader frustration in Beijing over what it sees as discriminatory treatment of Chinese firms operating in the United States. TikTok has become the most prominent example of a wider pattern of scrutiny facing Chinese technology companies amid deepening strategic rivalry between the two countries.
If finalized as planned, the Oracle-led deal would mark one of the most significant forced restructurings of a major global tech platform. Whether it fully satisfies regulators on both sides, however, will only become clear once the final structure is approved and implemented early next year.