BEIJING: The Chinese government on Thursday objected and expressed concerns over India's decision to ban 118 mobile applications.
Speaking at a press briefing, Gao Feng, the spokesperson of Chinese Commerce Ministry, said India has abused national security by imposing "discriminate restrictions" on Chinese companies, state-run Global Times reported.
Urging India to reconsider its move, Gao said, "China-India economic and trade cooperation yields mutual benefits."
He asserted that China has always asked its companies to comply with international and local rules and regulations in their overseas operations. "We hope that the Indian side will work with the Chinese side to maintain hard-won bilateral cooperation and development so as to build an open and fair business environment for international investors and services providers including Chinese companies," he was quoted as saying.
The Indian government on Wednesday decided to block 118 mobile apps including PUBG MOBILE Nordic Map: Livik, WeChat Work and WeChat in view of the information available that they are engaged in activities, which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity, defence and security of India and public order.
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The decision came amid border tensions with China in eastern Ladakh and nearly two months after the government banned 59 China-linked apps. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said in a release that the decision "is a targeted move" to ensure safety, security and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace.
The ministry said it has received many complaints from various sources including several reports about the misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users' data in an unauthorised manner to servers, which have locations outside India.
It added that 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 Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre of Home Ministry has also sent an exhaustive recommendation for blocking these malicious apps.