Swedish singer Zara Larsson said Tuesday that she had ended her collaboration with China's Huawei to promote its smartphones, saying China "is not a nice state," but the firm responded that the deal had always been limited in time and had ended "as agreed".

Speaking with broadcaster TV4, Larsson, whose greatest hits have been streamed over five billion times according to the broadcaster, said the collaboration with Huawei had ended a few months ago.

"If I now look back it wasn't, from a professional but also a personal perspective, the smartest deal I've done," the 22-year-old singer said.

"It's not something I stand behind," she added.

Larsson, who is one of Sweden's best known international singers, first reached international fame with her 2013 hit Uncover, then through her collaboration with French DJ David Guetta.

In the spring of 2019, Zara Larsson signed a promotional deal with Huawei to market the launch of a new smartphone.

Olympic swimmer Sarah Sjostrom was also hired to promote the Chinese telecoms giant's phones.

Interviewed last year by the magazine Resume about the accusations of spying and Huawei's ties to the Chinese state, Larsson said she wasn't "particularly informed".

"Huawei is a privately owned company in China that is now launching a good mobile phone, more than that I'm not thinking about or commenting," she told the magazine.

Her statements provoked criticism that Larsson was promoting the interests of the Chinese communist regime.

In an op-ed published on Tuesday in newspaper Expressen, Matilda Ekeblad, a local politician representing the conservative Moderate Party, accused the singer of "running China's errands", pointing to accusations Huawei conducts espionage for Beijing and Chinese repression of the Uighur community and Hong Kong.

Interviewed by TV4 the same day, Larsson said she did not want to support what China "was doing".

"We know that the Chinese state is not a nice state," she said, adding that she would have liked to take a stand on the Uighurs, Tik Tok or Hong Kong but that she felt "hindered" by her collaboration with Huawei.

Huawei's Swedish branch later issued a statement in response, noting that the deal with the artist had only been for a set amount of time and had ended last year "as agreed".

"We appreciated the collaboration with Zara. Her energy, values and driving force to walk her own path..." the statement said.

Huawei also stressed that it is a "global private company" and that while it follows local regulations and laws it does "not take instructions from any government or authority".

Trump call for slice of TikTok deal draws fire
Washington (AFP) Aug 4, 2020 - President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his demand for the US government to get a piece of the action to let Microsoft or any other company here buy popular China-based social media app TikTok.

Trump's stance was slammed by critics who said it appears unconstitutional and akin to extortion.

"We have all the cards, because without us, you can't come into the United States," Trump said during a White House press briefing.

"If you're a landlord, you have a tenant, the tenant's business needs rent, it needs a lease."

Trump maintained that a large share of any TikTok purchase price should go to the US treasury, and that Microsoft "agreed with me very much."

Microsoft did not immediately return a request for comment.

Trump on Monday said he was prepared to approve a deal selling TikTok assets to Microsoft or another US company after warning of a national security ban, but maintained that he would ask for "a substantial portion" of any transaction to come into the Treasury.

Trump lacks authority for this demand, critics said, adding that if carried out it would be bad for business and international relations.

"Those are the sort of mafia tactics you might see in Russia," said James Lewis, director of technology policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"It's not a good policy practice. I don't think it's constitutional."

Bobby Chesney, a University of Texas law professor specializing in national security and constitutional issues, said Trump's suggestion "is grossly inappropriate and unbecoming, not to mention having no basis in law."

Former federal prosecutor Michael Bromwich said on Twitter that Trump's demands sounded like racketeering, referring to the law known as the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations act (RICO).

"This is becoming a more overt RICO enterprise with each passing day," he wrote in response to Trump's comments.

The Wall Street Journal journalists Spencer Jakab and Dan Gallagher wrote in an opinion piece that Microsoft should reject any such overture.

"If the proposal is serious, and deemed legal, it would set a dangerous precedent for the seizure of foreign businesses through regulatory fiat, and open the door for US firms to suffer the same treatment," they wrote.

"If the price includes an unseemly payout to the US Treasury, corporate America has far more to lose than to gain by participating."

Used by as many as a billion people worldwide to make quirky short-form videos on their cellphones, TikTok is the latest front in the ongoing political and trade battles between Washington and Beijing.

The United States maintains that TikTok collects users' personal data that the Chinese government can access and make use of for intelligence and other purposes. TikTok denies its user data goes to the Chinese government.

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Microsoft to keep exploring TikTok deal after Trump talks
Washington (AFP) Aug 3, 2020
Microsoft said Sunday it was continuing talks with Chinese-owned video sharing app TikTok to purchase its US operations, following a meeting with President Donald Trump. "Following a conversation between Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and President Donald J Trump, Microsoft is prepared to continue discussions to explore a purchase of TikTok in the United States," the company said in a statement. Trump has threatened to bar the wildly popular app in the United States, citing national security concer ... read more