ISTANBUL

China said Thursday that Washington has not provided any evidence that the popular video sharing app TikTok is a threat to US national security. 

"The US has yet to prove with evidence that TikTok threatens its national security," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a news conference in Beijing.

Wang accused Washington of spreading disinformation and suppressing TikTok.

The US should "stop spreading disinformation about data security, stop suppressing relevant companies, and provide an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for foreign businesses to invest and operate in the US," he said.

Beijing's concern over Washington's possible moves against the video sharing app came after TikTok’s Chinese owners said the Biden administration had asked them to sell their shares or risk a ban on the app in the US.

"China always believes that data security should not be used as a tool to abuse the national security concept and state power to hobble foreign companies," Wang said, according to a transcript of his news conference.

It reported that 60% of TikTok parent company ByteDance’s shares are owned by global investors, 20% by employees and 20% by its founders, citing TikTok executives.