The Indian Government Again Blocks Applications From China

Ilustrasi (Photo by Matam Jaswanth on Unsplash)

JAKARTA - India is again blocking applications originating from China. After previously India banned more than 175 applications such as TikTok and PUBG Mobile, following the conflict between the two countries some time ago.

As with previous policies, the Indian government said the current ban was based on concerns over cyber security. The blocking was carried out based on a report received by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center which is under the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs.

"This action is taken based on the input regarding this application to engage in activities that are detrimental to India's sovereignty and integrity, Indian defense, state security and public order," India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said in a statement, quoted by TechCrunch.

Several key apps by tech giant Alibaba have also been blocked, including e-commerce services AliExpress and TaoBao Live. With this new round of bans, there will be almost no more Chinese apps on the list of the 500 most used apps in India.

This latest ban also comes when several applications, such as PUBG Mobile and TikTok, are starting to re-explore their users in India. Given that the two applications promise to spend 100 million US dollars to develop the digital ecosystem in India.

In its response, the Chinese embassy said it required technology companies operating overseas to comply with international rules and comply with local laws. Openly, China accused India of being discriminatory and violating world trade rules.

"We firmly oppose the repeated 'national security' rationale that India uses to ban some Chinese mobile apps," said spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in India, Ji Rong in a statement.

"We hope that India provides a fair, impartial and non-discriminatory business environment for all market players from various countries including China, and corrects discriminatory practices that violate WTO rules," he said, adding that China and India were not threats to each other, but opportunities. to grow and develop with each other.

So far, the bilateral relations between the two countries are quite bad. Following the incident of clashes on the Himalayan border that killed 20 Indian soldiers. This incident sparked anti-Chinese sentiment across India and people called for a boycott of Chinese products.