A US investigation into ByteDance’s TikTok is really intended to smother a Chinese-owned app that’s become a sensation with Americans, founder Zhang Yiming told employees in China on Tuesday.

In his second missive to the troops in as many days, the billionaire entrepreneur said a government probe into the company’s 2017 purchase of Musical.ly, — TikTok’s progenitor — was intended to spur a complete shutout.

Escalating US-China tensions had prompted American politicians to warn that the app posed a potential national security threat and call for an investigation into whether US user data was being shared with Beijing, accusations that ByteDance has repeatedly rejected.

While a forced sale of TikTok to US buyer is “unreasonable”, it is still part of a legal process and the company has no choice but to abide by the law, Zhang said. “But this is not their goal, or even what they want. Their real objective is to achieve a comprehensive ban,” he wrote.

Zhang’s comments were echoed by prominent venture capitalist Lee Kai-Fu, who wrote on Tuesday on Chinese social media he found the fracas around TikTok “unbelievable.”