A spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry on Thursday said if so-called national security is to be cited to bring down other countries' competitive advantage, that is "no fairness to speak of", remarking on the U.S. passing legislation forcing a TikTok divestiture or ban.

The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill on Wednesday that would give TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance about six months to divest the U.S. assets of the short-video app, or face a ban.

"How the U.S. handles the TikTok incident enables the world to see clearly whether U.S.'s so-called rules-based order serves the world or itself," said Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry. (Reporting by Laurie Chen; Writing by Bernard Orr; Editing by Himani Sarkar)