Time running out for TikTok over calls to outlaw video app
MPs’ fury at Uighur Muslim ‘holocaust’ UK scraps Hong Kong extradition deal Huawei 5G ban sparks ‘cold war’ claim
Chinese diplomat Xiaoming
THE UK’s relations with China hit crisis point as Dominic Raab warned yesterday we will not “buck and bow” to the sabrerattling communist state.
The Foreign Secretary joined MPs in condemning Beijing’s alleged persecution of Uighur Muslims – appearing to compare it with the Holocaust.
He slapped an arms embargo on Hong Kong. He also suspended our extradition treaty with the former British colony over a new security law imposed by China as it continues its crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.
The heightened tensions came after China accused the West of sparking a new “cold war” and threatened “a response” – singling out the UK for freezing tech firm Huawei out of our 5G network.
Saying he was braced for retaliation over Hong Kong, Mr Raab said: “We are absolutely clear, we will not – certainly in relation to Hong Kong but also more generally – we will not buck and bow.
“We will look for the positive but we will prepare for the resilience of our economy, our security and indeed the resilience of our values.”
Mr Raab and Prime Minister Boris Johnson will today meet US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who flew in last night.
Collapsing relations with China are expected to top the agenda.
MPs yesterday rounded on Beijing in an hour-long debate, highlighting the plight of the Uighur minority in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region.
Ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming denies reports Uighur women are being sterilised to cut the population. On TV this week, he was confronted with footage appearing to show blindfolded Uighurs being marched to trains.
It is also claimed authorities are selling Uighur hair on the internet.
Tory MP Neil O’Brien told the Commons: “Whether it’s pictures of Uighur children separated from parents or the horrifying footage of Uighurs in chains herded off the trains and into camps, or news the Chinese government is selling the hair of Uighurs, many things are reminiscent of the darkest moments of 20th century history.
“The only way to stand up to a regime becoming more and more bullying is to confront them now.”
Mr Raab – whose Jewish father fled the Nazis and whose greatgrandparents
TIKTOK – the wildly popular video-sharing app loved by teens – is the latest Chinese export to fall under international scrutiny, with growing calls for it to be banned.
The app, downloaded two billion times, lets users create and share quirky short videos, adding music and camera effects.
But concerns have been growing that the social media giant, with 4.9 million UK were murdered in the Holocaust – added that there were “harrowing echoes of what we have seen in the past”.
The Foreign Secretary confirmed we will shelve extradition arrangements with Hong Kong in a “reasonable and proportionate” users, could be passing on private data to the Chinese government. Soldiers in the US are banned from having it on phones.
Set up by tech mogul Zhang Yiming, TikTok has tried to distance itself from China’s communist rulers and denies the allegations. Parent company ByteDance posted a £3billion profit last year.
The platform, now used by half of eight to 15-year-olds, has been rocked by claims response to China’s new national security law. It gives mainland authorities “the ability to assume jurisdiction over certain cases and try those cases in mainland courts”.
An arms embargo on China since 1989’s Tiananmen Square massacre will also be extended to Hong Kong it collects users’ phone and social network contacts, email addresses and location.
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith yesterday called for a UK ban, calling it “a security risk”. He added: “We need to treat it the same as Huawei and ban it.”
This month India became the first to outlaw the platform along with 58 other Chinese-owned apps, calling them a “threat to security and sovereignty”.
PRIVACY TikTok