With New Delhi contemplating more economic measures against China, Beijing on Tuesday stated that it would take “necessary measures” to protect the interests of its companies in India.
A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government barred the use of 47 clones and different versions of the previously banned 59 Chinese apps in India, Beijing asked New Delhi to “correct” its “wrongdoing”.
Read: Indian govt bans 47 more Chinese apps, PUBG Mobile under scanner too
“The Indian government has the responsibility to protect the legitimate rights and interests of international investors in India, including Chinese businesses, in accordance with market principles,” Ji Rong, a spokesperson of the communist country’s embassy in New Delhi, said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
New Delhi on June 29 banned 59 apps linked to China, alleging that they were used in activities “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order”. The move came in response to China’s military aggression along its disputed boundary with India in eastern Ladakh. The banned apps included TikTok and WeChat, owned respectively by ByteDance Limited and Tencent Holdings Limited of China.
Though the ban was imposed almost four weeks back, the existing WeChat users in India were being able to access the social networking app and send and receive messages till a couple of days back. The WeChat, however, on Sunday officially restricted its users from sending and receiving messages from India, thus fully implementing the ban the Modi Government imposed on it.
New Delhi is also planning more economic offensives against China, with its security agencies identifying the communist country's companies, which have past or continuing links with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and are operating in India.
The companies identified so far for having links with the Chinese PLA include Alibaba Group Holding Limited, Tencent Holdings Limited, Huawei Technologies Company Limited and the SAIC Motor Corporation Limited. The list also includes the Xinxing Cathay International Group Company Limited, which has invested in the Xindia Steels Limited that has an iron ore pelletisation facility at Koppal district of Karnataka.
China on Tuesday said that it consistently asked its enterprises “to abide by international rules and local laws and regulations when conducting external cooperation”. “Practical cooperation between China and India is mutually beneficial. Deliberate interference in such cooperation will not serve the interests of the Indian side. China will also take necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies,” the spokesperson of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in New Delhi said on Tuesday.
Beijing earlier opposed India’s move to ban use of 59 apps linked to China, stating that New Delhi abused the “national security exception” to the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO). China stated that the ban “selectively and discriminatorily” targeted the apps developed by the companies based in the communist country on “ambiguous and far-fetched grounds”. It also called upon India to acknowledge “the mutually beneficial nature of China-India economic and trade cooperation”.