China announced a data security initiative today, saying it aims for it to become a global standard.

State Councilor Wang Yi (pictured) said the program will mean China will not ask Chinese companies to yield data from other countries that could be in breach of those countries’ laws. The plan also asks participating states that they do not engage in mass surveillance of other countries. So far, it doesn’t look like any other country has signed up.

“Global data security rules that reflect the wishes of all countries and respect the interests of all parties should be reached on the basis of universal participation by all parties,” Wang said. “Some individual countries are aggressively pursuing unilateralism, throwing dirty water on other countries under the pretext of ‘cleanliness,’ and conducting global hunts on leading companies of other countries under the pretext of security. This is naked bullying and should be opposed and rejected.”

China didn’t specifically state which nations were the bullies, although one could hazard a guess. Under President Trump, Chinese technology has been somewhat demonized under the umbrella of threats to national security. Electronics maker and telecommunications giant, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. has come under attack many times, as have Tencent Holdings Ltd. (WeChat) and TikTok parent ByteDance Inc.

“A certain country keeps making groundless accusations against others in the name of a ‘clean’ network and uses security as a pretext to prey on enterprises of other countries that have a competitive edge,” said Wang. “Such blatant acts of bullying must be opposed and rejected.”

The announcement comes at a fitting time. Early in August, Trump said that TikTok would be banned in the U.S. if it wasn’t sold to a U.S. buyer. The reason for such action was the accusation that the app was being used as a spying tool for the Chinese government.

For awhile it looked as though a deal would go through, with Microsoft Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in a joint potential bid, plus Oracle Corp., all in the mix for what was looking like a $20 billion to $30 billion acquisition. Then China threw a ratchet in the works by creating new legislation that now means a sale can’t happen if TikTok isn’t granted a license to sell its technology to a foreign firm.

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