China’s jittery response to banning of apps by India; Talks of mutual benefits and cooperation

On June 29, Government of India blocked 59 Chinese apps including Tik Tok for engaging in activities detrimental to sovereignty and integrity of India. The move came weeks after Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre had sent an exhaustive recommendation for blocking these malicious apps.

In response to India banning the Chinese apps, Chinese Embassy in India has issued a statement saying that ‘Chinese side is seriously concerned with and firmly opposed to such action’. Calling India’s move as ‘selective and discriminatory’, the statement says that banning Chinese apps runs against fair and transparent procedure requirements and violation of WTO rules.

China further tries to put up a brave face by bringing in its ‘concerns’ for Indians post the ban. Saying that these apps ‘operate strictly in accordance with Indian laws and regulations’, the statement adds that the ban will affect not only the employment of local Indian workers who support these apps, but also the interests of Indian users and the employment and livelihoods of many creators and entrepreneurs.

But the statement indicates that China is willing to wilt down in wake of losing revenue and following from Indians when it says that it expects India acknowledges the mutually beneficial nature of China-India economic and trade cooperation, and urges the Indian side to maintain the momentum of China-India economic and trade cooperation.

In mid-June, Indian intelligence agencies has asked government to block 52 Chinese mobile apps including Zoom, TikTok, UC browser, Xender, SHAREit, Clean-master and had advised people to stop using them over concerns that these weren’t safe and also for extracting large amount of data outside India. China has never categorically denied that Chinese apps to not steal data and it has also not come clean on the requirements it mandates for its apps in other countries.

China has also not allowed apps like Facebook, Google, Twitter in its own territory and has also blocked these websites. China’s demand to allow its apps while banning apps from other countries in its territory is sheer hypocrisy say China observers.