'Seriously concerned and firmly oppose' India's app ban: Chinese embassy

A day after India banned 118 more Chinese apps, the Chinese Embassy in India criticised the move and said that it is seriously concerned and firmly opposes the action taken with the excuse of national security. The Counselor at the Chinese Embassy in India, Ji Rong urged the Indian government to rectify its 'discriminatory practices' violating global trade rules, and provide an open, fair and impartial business environment for all market players from various countries, including China.

"The Chinese government has always required Chinese overseas companies to abide by international rules and operate in compliance with laws and regulations. The relevant practices by the Indian government not only harm the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese investors and service providers, but also harm the interests of Indian consumers and the investment environment. Suppression, self-seclusion and restrictions cannot benefit one country's development. It's the right way to integrate into global cooperation by being open, fair and transparent," said Rong while responding to media query on the Indian government's decision of blocking 118 Chinese mobile applications.

"China and India are the opportunities of development to each other rather than strategic threats. The essence of economic and trade cooperation between China and India is for mutual benefit and win-win results. We hope that India will work with China to maintain the hard-won cooperation and development situation, and return to the right path of win-win cooperation," he added.

The central government on Wednesday blocked PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite along with 116 other Chinese apps for Android and iOS devices. The banned apps also include Baidu, Baidu Express Edition, Tencent Watchlist, FaceU, WeChat Reading and Tencent Weiyun. The development came while India and China are engaged in a military standoff at Pangong Lake in Ladakh.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said that these banned applications are "prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order". The Ministry said that it has received several complaints from various sources about misuse of some mobile apps for stealing and transmitting users' data without authorisation to servers located outside India.

The Centre had earlier banned 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok and UC Browser, days after the violent conflict between Indian and Chinese soldiers in the Galwan Valley of eastern Ladakh along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in June this year. Similar action against 49 other Chinese apps were taken a few days later.

By Chitranjan Kumar

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