Multiple Chinese apps pulled off from the Indian Market
- by Lorene Schwartz
- in People
- — Nov 26, 2020
The central government on Tuesday chose to ban 43 mobile applications for being "prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity" of India. Other names include AliSuppliers and Alibaba Workbench, CamCard - Business Card Reader, Chinese Social, WeDate, TrulyChinese etc.
Beijing again pushed back on the pressure campaign on Wednesday, calling on India "to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of worldwide investors, including Chinese companies", a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry said. On Tuesday evening, the Indian government imposed another set of web sanctions in its digital strike against the Asian giant, targeting Jack Ma's Alibaba group with the most number of bans.
MeitY said the action was taken based on inputs which revealed that the apps were "engaging in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, the security of the state and public order", the Ministry said.
In a more detailed statement in response to the media, Ji Rong said the Chinese government had always required overseas Chinese companies to abide by worldwide rules, operate in compliance with laws and regulations and conform to "public order and good morals". It said they threaten India's "sovereignty and integrity" but gave no details. On September 2, the government further banned an additional 118 Chinese apps.
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He adds that although "data privacy concerns existed for some Chinese and other apps for years", there had been no bans before June 2020.
Asked for his reaction to the latest ban on Chinese apps by India, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here China expresses serious concern over India's move.
One of the apps that have been banned is a Chinese app called Snack Video which acted as a TikTok alternative for Indians and had been observing a surge in its downloads. The previous two bans cited section 69A of India's Information Technology Act, which the government also referred to on Tuesday to justify its latest blacklist.
