The‌ ‌number‌ ‌of‌ ‌Chinese‌ ‌Apps‌ ‌banned‌ ‌in‌ ‌India‌ ‌has‌ ‌gone‌ ‌up‌ ‌to‌ ‌118

There has always been an air of tension in the political environment between India and China. The People's Republic of China was founded in the year 1949, two years after India attained independence, and this was when the tension started. During the 1950s, the countries appeared to have good relations. They made great efforts to establish a cordial relationship using the India China Friendship Association. The centre of disagreement was that China never accepted the area demarcated by the British as legal Indian borders, called the McMahon Line. The Sino-Indian war happened in 1962 over this very border. After this, there were various clashes between the two countries, including one in 1975, which then led to 45 years of peace. During this time, the two countries signed a series of border agreements, but the tensions were never completely resolved. This included a 1996 agreement that prohibited the use of firearms in the volatile area. On 15th June 2020, the two Nuclear superpowers had a clash in hand to hand combat near the Himalayan mountains at the Galawan river along the McMahon Line, also called the Line of Actual Control (LAC), resulting in deaths from both sides. This has been the deadliest confrontation in 45 years. This poses a dangerous escalation between the two nations. 

It was this clash that led to the initial boycott of Chinese apps in India. On 29th June, the Government of India banned 59 apps, including the famous app, TikTok. In July, 47 more apps were banned, bringing the total to 106 apps. Recently, on 2nd September, the Government ordered the ban of another 118 apps, including the widely used gaming app PUBG. This brings the number of banned Chinese apps to a whopping 224 applications. 

These actions were carried out by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology which invoked provisions under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act read with the relevant provisions of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009. The decision was claimed to have been made because of the emergent nature of threats and information stating that they are engaged in activities that are “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, the security of the state and public order."The ministry also received many complaints from various sources along with reports claiming the misuse of some of these apps with the intent of “stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner” to servers located outside India. The ministry, in their official release also stated 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, Ministry of Home Affairs also sent a specific recommendation to block these supposedly malicious apps. The ministry also said that there were bipartisan concerns regarding these Chinese apps. They sincerely believed that these apps posed a serious and dangerous threat to India's sovereignty and the privacy of its citizens. Further, in the opinion of the Indian Government, it compromised national security. There was credible evidence to prove that these apps had been collecting and sharing personal data and information of users surreptitiously, thereby posing a severe threat to the security of the state. Among the list of banned apps are WeChat Reading, Baidu, Baidu Express Edition, FaceU, Tencent Watchlist and Tencent Weiyun, of which Tencent and NetEase are major gaming apps. Apart from this, apps of technology giants like Baidu and Alibaba affiliate, Ant Group have also been banned. 

The US, on 3rd September, backed India's decision to ban the 118 apps, and in a tweet by the US State Department, Under Secretary Keith Krach lauded India for its move and called out the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for its deeds. He further encouraged “freedom-loving nations and companies to join The Clean Network''. The USA also issued a statement on the Sino-India Dispute hoping that it would be resolved soon. Apart from this, it has placed sanctions and visa restrictions on Chinese Individuals who are responsible for the propagation of CCP’s imperialism and various other unlawful surveillance in various parts of the globe. China, on the other hand, blames India for initiating acts of aggression during the recent scuffle at the LAC border. Chinese officials went on total offence and stated that PM Narendra Modi was banning Chinese apps in an attempt to divert attention from the fact that “India cannot curtail the COVID19 situation”. In reality, however, the decision of the Indian Government is in line with the Atma Nirbhar Mission that the BJP government proposed in their propaganda. Indian retailers and traders were very appreciative of the ban. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), in an official statement, stated that this is a major milestone against the misdeeds of China and boosts the morale of the country. They have further requested the Minister of Commerce and Industry, to investigate Chinese investments into 141 Indian start-ups including Swiggy, Zomato, Ola, Oyo Rooms, Paytm and Flipkart. Furthermore, the issue of banning PUBG was even brought up during a session of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology as it greatly influenced, distracted and affected the youth of the country. 

The Government of India has decided to ban these apps in the light of relevant and credible information and reports claiming that Chinese apps, through their app permissions, are gathering personal information of their users. Summarily, banning Chinese apps will give short term inconvenience to the users of these apps. Still, if looked at from a broader perspective, it can be seen as a very strategic message to China that India will not take China's aggression concerning the LAC issue as well as various other tensions without a covert fight.