‘Not Helpful’: China Again Urges India to Stop Banning Moble Apps in The Name of National Security

Issuing a statement, the spokesperson said that the move from India has violated the WTO rules which otherwise provides open, fair and impartial business environment.

New Delhi: A day after India banned 118 mobile apps with links to China, including the hugely popular PUBG, spokesperson of Chinese Embassy in India urged New Delhi to stop banning such mobile apps in the name of ‘national security’.

Issuing a statement, the spokesperson said that the move from India has violated the WTO rules which otherwise provides open, fair and impartial business environment.

“China urges Indian government to rectify discriminatory practices of blocking Chinese Mobile Apps with excuse of national security which violate WTO rules, provide open, fair and impartial business environment, and return to right path of win-win cooperation,” the Chinese Embassy in India said in a statement.

China urges Indian govt to rectify discriminatory practices of blocking Chinese Mobile Apps with excuse of "national security" which violate WTO rules, provide open, fair & impartial business environment, & return to right path of win-win cooperation: Spox, Chinese Embassy, India pic.twitter.com/feauMqtieF

— ANI (@ANI) September 3, 2020

Earlier in the day, Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said India’s decision to ban 118 Chinese apps is not beneficial to the Indian users nor to China’s businesses.

India on Wednesday banned 118 more mobile apps with Chinese links, including the popular game PUBG, citing data privacy concerns and a threat to national security, taking the total count of Chinese-linked mobile apps banned by New Delhi to 224.

“China-India economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial and win-win. It is hoped that the two countries will jointly maintain the hard-won cooperation and development situation and create an open and fair business environment for international investors and service providers, including Chinese companies,” Gao said.

In another development, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said the Indian user’s rights and interests are first harmed. And, Chinese business’s rights and interests will also be harmed. So, what India has done is not beneficial to anyone.

She also noted that the US State Department on the same day cited New Delhi’s ban and called on other countries to join India to roll out the clean network initiative.