The Chinese mobile phone applications, the government has banned 118 more mobile apps. Popular app PUBG is among the mobile apps banned by the Information and Technology Ministry on Wednesday.
The banned apps include Baidu, Baidu Express Edition, Tencent Watchlist, FaceU, WeChat Reading and Tencent Weiyun, besides PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite, according to an official statement.
The government said these apps were “prejudicial to Sovereignty and Integrity of India, Defence of India, Security of State and Public Order” in its notification announcing ban on the Chinese mobile apps.
The Centre had earlier banned a number of Chinese apps, including TikTok and UC Browser.
With the latest order, the total number of Chinese mobile phone apps banned by the Indian government goes up to 224. The government had first banned 59 Chinese apps days after the violent clash between the Indian and the Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in June.
It was followed by another restriction order in which 49 more Chinese mobile apps were banned in India.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology banned these apps invoking its power under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. It said the decision was taken in the view of the emergent nature of threats.
The government said the action against these mobile phone apps was taken after it received many complaints from various sources about stealing users’ data and surreptitiously transmitting them in an unauthorized manner to servers located outside India.
“The compilation of these data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defence of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India, is a matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures,” the statement said. Govt using app ban as way to send a strategic message to China
Cyber expert Pavan Duggal said that the government can be seen using app bans as a way to send a strategic message to China.
“We are seeing the government using these bans as a way to send a strategic message to China. The last time 59 apps were banned was when tensions were rising at the Libe of Actual Control [LAC] when India lost its soldiers, and now with the latest ban, the government has shown that it will not take Chinese aggression lightly,” Duggal said.
Soon after Indian government’s decision, through an article, Chinese government’s mouthpiece, Global Times stated: “The Indian government’s latest move on Wednesday to ban 118 Chinese mobile apps is another provocative manoeuvre against China amid renewed tensions on the border, and an ill-intentioned attempt to deflect public attention away from its failure to contain a ravaging Covid-19 outbreak and a contracting economy”.
“The move also comes as India, the most populous country in South Asia, continues to be ravaged by the Covid-19 epidemic that has been crippling the economy, and thus the move is a calculated provocative move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to hide its domestic failures”, said Zhao Gancheng, director of the Center for Asia-Pacific Studies at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies.
Zhao said that while the app ban will likely have a limited impact on the Indian economy, the “ill-intentions” behind the Indian government’s move to stir up tension and even conflict with China are increasingly reaching a dangerous level.
“This is dangerous. The worse the Indian economy becomes, the higher the probability that a military conflict could be provoked by New Delhi. This is a very worrisome situation,” Zhao said.
With both the sides taking a firm stand, it looks like tension has seeped into the power corridors of both the countries. Many are hailing the government’s decision to ban these apps as a strategic move which will give them leverage in the ongoing diplomatic scuffle.
Experts are of the opinion that the Indian government needs to free the Indian economy from Chinese shackles. Over the past few weeks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a push to the ‘Atmanirbhar’ mission, most of the industries are now looking at reducing their imports from China and in turn source material locally.
These bans and the Atmanirbhar mission is seen by many as a signal to the Chinese government that India will not take aggression lying down.
