US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the Trump administration is open to talks with Beijing, yet the US will maintain its tough stance in the interest of American national security.

“This is a serious effort, this is a serious risk and President Trump is serious about protecting our information, our networks and the American people,” Pompeo said.

When asked about the Chinese-owned TikTok, Pompeo would not discuss specifics of a U.S. tech firm acquiring the platform. He did reiterate the importance of such a sale in order to protect personal American data.

“I predict that TikTok will no longer share its private information that belongs to the American people to the Chinese Communist Party, I’m confident that they won’t be doing that,” Pompeo said of the potential U.S. acquisition.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced that it would remove “untrusted” Chinese tech apps like TikTok and WeChat from U.S. app stores. Pompeo detailed the new five-pronged “Clean Network” effort aimed at curbing potential national security risks.

“With parent companies based in China, apps like TikTok and WeChat and others, are significant threats to personal data of American citizens, not to mention tools for Chinese Communist Party content censorship,” Pompeo said.