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The backlash comes a day after India banned 118 more mobile apps with Chinese links, including the popular game PUBG, citing concerns over data privacy and a threat to national security.
- News18.com
- Last update: September 3, 2020 8:55 PM IST
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Invoking Rabindranath Tagore and yoga, China on Thursday criticized India’s ban on 118 Chinese apps and warned New Delhi not to join the US “clean nets” program.
China’s spokesman Hua Chunying was quoted by Hindustan Times reciting a line from Tagore’s poem: “We misread the world and say that it deceives us.” He said that Tagore and yoga were popular in China, but they didn’t see it as a threat unlike in India.
“As I said, both are ancient civilizations with splendid cultures that we are proud of, and the exchange between the two parties has been going on for thousands of years. Also, yoga is becoming more and more popular in China; including myself, I am very fond of Indian culture. But we do not believe that Indian culture or poems or other things are infiltrating here or posing a threat to Chinese culture, “Hua said, as quoted.
“What we believe is that the mixture of different cultures leads to promote mutual understanding and friendship between people,” he added.
Hua also subtly warned India about its ties to the United States and wondered if the ban in India had any bearing on Washington’s initiative.
“I have noticed that the US state department said on the same day that India banned more than 100 Chinese apps and asked other countries to join India in implementing the clean grid initiative,” he said.
“So I don’t know if there is any correlation or interaction between India and the US. But India is an ancient civilization with wise people. They must know what the US has done in cyber security, for example Dirtbox, Prism, Irritant Horn, Submarine and Muscle Cable Intervention. Indians must have the wisdom to know whether American practice on cybersecurity is clean or dirty. “
“We hope that India can remain committed to its valuable independence decision-making.”
The backlash comes a day after India banned 118 more mobile apps with Chinese links, including the popular game PUBG, citing concerns over data privacy and a threat to national security. This brings the total count of China-linked mobile apps banned by India to 224.
The 118 apps banned on Wednesday include Baidu, Baidu Express Edition, Alipay, Tencent Watchlist, FaceU, WeChat Reading, Government WeChat, Tencent Weiyun, APUS Launcher Pro, APUS Security, Cut Cut, Xiaomi’s ShareSave, and CamCard, plus PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite, according to an official statement.
“The Government blocks 118 mobile applications that are detrimental to the sovereignty and integrity of India, the defense of India, state security and public order,” the statement said. The move comes amid new border tensions with China in Ladakh.
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