Tuesday, March 19, 2024
HomeIndia“India using ‘national security’ as an excuse to ban Chinese apps”- China

“India using ‘national security’ as an excuse to ban Chinese apps”- China

Terming India’s actions of banning a truckload of Chinese applications from its country as “discriminatory practices”, China said that it “firmly opposes” India’s tactics of yesterday where it prohibited more apps developed in its rival nation.

Though India called the bans as a way to safeguard the country’s security, China said that the “repeated use of national security” for doing so is an “excuse” and nothing more.

After blocking 224 Chinese apps, India went ahead to ban another 43 apps on Tuesday, the majority of which were China-based. It said the act was “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order”.

Speaking about the matter, Chinese spokesperson, Ji Rong, took to Twitter and wrote, “China firmly opposes Indian side’s repeated use of ‘national security’ as excuse to prohibit mobile Apps with Chinese background. Hope India provides fair, impartial and non-discriminatory business environment for all market players and rectify discriminatory practices.”

In order to function in foreign countries, the spokesperson in a rather comprehensive portion of China’s statement in reply to the bans said, that its government has since ever necessitated the Chinese origin businesses set abroad to comply with the international rules for being in line with the laws and regulations of the country for conforming to “public order and good morals”.

The two powers of the world should collaborate for developmental reasons, mutually benefitting each other, instead of posing risks and dangers, said the spokesperson. He added that China and India should work towards obtaining bilateral and trade relations on the correct track to ensure an advantageous relationship for both parties.

“China and India are the opportunities of development to each other rather than threats. Both sides should bring bilateral economic and trade relations back to the right path for mutual benefits and win-win results on the basis of dialogue and negotiation,” said Mr. Rong.

In a statement followed by the ban of the 43 apps, taking up the tally to 267, Indian government’s release said yesterday that it was “committed to protect the interests of citizens and sovereignty and integrity of India on all fronts and it shall take all possible steps to ensure that.”

Due to the rising tensions at the India-China border since the past few months, India has been aiming to get back at its arch-enemy by stopping the business of Chinese applications in the country. With this, major mobile apps including the popular video-sharing app TikTok, shooting video game PUBG, fashionable clothing service Shein, and many others got disappeared from Play Stores.

Initially, following the death of 20 Indian soldiers amid the violent face-off between China and India in Ladakh’s Galwan valley, the government had blocked 59 apps, after which the string of other apps got added to the list.

118 more apps were banned in September this year citing “threat to the country’s sovereignty”.

Yesterday’s array of apps included famous names of applications like AliExpress, Alipay cashier, Alibaba Workbench, WeDate, Camcard and others. Majority of these were either social media platforms or dating apps.

Despite several rounds of conferences for settling the issues at the border, including military and diplomatic officers’ conversations, not much has been changed.