China prays for non-discriminatory, fair treatment after India bans apps
China on Thursday (February 17) expressed hope of India treating all foreign investors, including Chinese firms, in a transparent, fair and non-discriminatory manner, in the wake of a new ban on 54 Chinese apps by the country which are said to be posing risk to security.
China on Thursday (February 17) expressed hope of India treating all foreign investors, including Chinese firms, in a transparent, fair and non-discriminatory manner, in the wake of a new ban on 54 Chinese apps by the country which are said to be posing risk to security.
“We hope India can take concrete measures to maintain the sound development momentum of bilateral economic and trade cooperation,” Gao Feng, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, told a press conference.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had banned 54 apps saying that these apps allegedly obtain various critical permissions and collect sensitive user data. And, these collected real-time data were being “misused and transmitted to servers located in hostile country,” said the ministry.
The banned apps include Garena Free Fire, also known as Free Fire, a popular mobile battle royale game, Tencent’s XRiver, mobile game Onmyoji arena, Sweet Selfie HD, Beauty Camera, Music Player, Music Plus, Volume Booster, Video Players Media all formats, Viva Video Editor, Nice Video Baidu, AppLock and Astracraft, among others, said media reports.
Since 2020, India has banned over 300 Chinese apps, including the highly popular short video sharing platform TikTok, UC Browser, WeChat and Bigo Live, as they were prejudicial to the sovereignty, integrity and security of the country.
A primary concern for India had been the standoff with China along the border. Prior to the 2020 Chinese app ban, Indian and Chinese troops had clashed in Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh, in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed.
Internet policy experts, however, say there is a lack of transparency in the way apps are banned. Some have pointed out that asking people to move to national apps instead of foreign ones doesn’t bode well because of several issues.
Economists say the country’s regulatory environment needs stability and certainty, with a view on the long term rather than the short term.
