China on Tuesday, June 30, reached out to India, expressing anxiety about the ban imposed by the Government of India on popular Chinese mobile applications like TikTok and WeChat, among others.
"China is strongly concerned, verifying the situation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian was quoted as saying by a news agency.
"We want to stress that the Chinese government always asks Chinese businesses to abide by international and local laws-regulations. The Indian government has a responsibility to uphold the legal rights of international investors including Chinese ones," Zhao Lijian said during a daily news briefing.
"The practical cooperation between China and India is actually mutually beneficial and win-win," he said.
In a diplomatic reaction to the Chinese aggression along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, where 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese troops were killed two weeks ago, India on Monday banned over 50 Chinese mobile applications.
59 apps prejudicial to sovereignty & integrity of India
The government in its statement said that the 59 applications were prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, the security of state and public order. "This move will safeguard the interests of crores of Indian mobile and internet users," the Indian IT ministry statement said.
Since the violent face-off and aggressive posturing of Beijing, there has been a vocal sentiment against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime in India.
The list of apps that have been banned includes Helo, Likee, CamScanner, Vigo Video, Mi Video Call Xiaomi, Clash of Kings as well as e-commerce platforms Club Factory and Shein.
The Information Technology Ministry also issued a statemnt saying, "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."
(With agency inputs)
