Gordon Chang, a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute and author of “The Great U.S. China Tech War,” said during an interview this week that communist China is using TikTok to promote social disruption in the U.S. in an attempt to weaken America’s system of government.
Chang initially responded to comments from Fox News host Jason Chaffetz about China’s claims that it has legitimate concerns that it wants the U.S. to take seriously.
“Well, first of all, China doesn’t have legitimate concerns. It’s not a legitimate state,” Chang said. “And we should stop treating it as such, because as you say, it is committing genocide, crimes against humanity, it deliberately spread COVID-19 beyond its borders — that 6.7 million people outside of China who have died from a disease that should have never left the central part of that country. You know, we can go on and on. But clearly, China is engaging in a series of acts which are destructive not only toward the United States, but the international community as a whole.”
A couple of minutes later, Chaffetz responded to a report this week that ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, spied on several U.S. journalists.
“President Trump banned TikTok along with WeChat,” Chang said. “President Biden, one of the first things he did was he reversed that ban. We know that over a course of years, about three or four of them, TikTok has been making representations to the U.S. about how it doesn’t allow data to be sent to China. And it’s violated every single assurance it’s given to the U.S. But it’s not just stealing data.”
“It is actually more serious that it is using the TikTok algorithm to disseminate Chinese propaganda, glorifying drug use, promoting violence on American streets, and this year, disseminating Russian narratives about the Ukraine war,” he continued. “So this really is an attempt to undermine and actually even overthrow the U.S. government. And why we permit it? I don’t know. India banned TikTok, we should do the same thing.”
TRANSCRIPT:
JASON CHAFFETZ, FOX NEWS: All right, my next grievance is China. Why do we continue to do any business with them? They lied to us on COVID, they’re committing genocide. President Xi is practically best friends with Vladimir Putin. We learned yesterday that ByteDance, the Chinese-owned parent company of TikTok, is spying on us journalists. And today, the CCP issued a warning to the United States about bullying them. The Chinese foreign minister reportedly telling the Secretary of State Blinken in a phone call that the United States must not continue the old routine of unilateral bullying. And we must pay attention to Chinese legitimate concerns, stop curbing and suppressing its development, and not constantly challenge China’s red line in a quote “salami slicing way.” Here now is Gordon Chang, he’s a Gatestone Institute senior fellow and author of “The Great U.S. China Tech War.” Gordon, you’re so good on China. Tell me, give me your impression, your thoughts on this latest revelation in these, this rhetoric coming out of China.
GORDON CHANG, CHINA EXPERT: Well, first of all, China doesn’t have legitimate concerns. It’s not a legitimate state. And we should stop treating it as such, because as you say, it is committing genocide, crimes against humanity, it deliberately spread COVID-19 beyond its borders — that 6.7 million people outside of China who have died from a disease that should have never left the central part of that country. You know, we can go on and on. But clearly China is engaging in a series of acts which are destructive not only toward the United States, but the international community as a whole. And oh, by the way, Chinese leader Xi Jinping thinks he’s the world’s only legitimate ruler, and that moon and Mars are part of the People’s Republic of China. I don’t know, you know, just it’s just inconceivable that we’re dealing with China in a way that we have.
CHAFFETZ: But it doesn’t appear as if President Biden is taking a tough stance, is it? Is it enough? Are they are we speaking the right language, so to speak, to China to try to have them say, “Hey, wait, we better not mess with the United States,” because it was certainly that way under President Donald Trump. The waters were calm because they understood where Donald Trump stood.
CHANG: Yes. And what Biden is trying to do is he’s trying, as he says, to find areas of cooperation with China. And because of that, we are not promoting our own interests. We’re not defending our own country. You know, you pointed out that Biden has had these five phone and video conferences with Xi Jinping and one in person chat last month at the G-20. And he has never raised the issue of the origins of COVID-19. That’s 1.1 million Americans almost that have been killed by this disease. That’s an abrogation of his most solemn and fundamental constitutional duty, which is to defend the United States from foreign attack. So, you’re absolutely right. Biden just uses the wrong language. He’s not raising and not defending the United States, it’s an abomination.
CHAFFETZ: Well, and what are we to make of TikTok? I mean, we hear a lot about it. They make fun videos, you watch them, they’re pretty entertaining. But, you know, they’re used as a spying mechanism. That’s the allegation. And yet there has been almost, been more action in the States than there has been in the federal government.
CHANG: Yes, well, President Trump banned TikTok along with WeChat. President Biden, one of the first things he did was he reversed that ban. We know that over a course of years, about three or four of them, TikTok has been making representations to the U.S. about how it doesn’t allow data to be sent to China. And it’s violated every single assurance it’s given to the U.S. But it’s not just stealing data. It is actually more serious that it is using the TikTok algorithm to disseminate Chinese propaganda, glorifying drug use, promoting violence on American streets, and this year, disseminating Russian narratives about the Ukraine war. So this really is an attempt to undermine and actually even overthrow the U.S. government. And why we permit it? I don’t know. India banned TikTok, we should do the same thing.
Story cited here.
