From the US to the entire country, India’s hard-hitting reply to China, post border dispute, in the form of banning 59 Chinese apps, is being lauded and seen as a major move that binds the integrity of India.

Talking about the development, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday said New Delhi’s decision to ban 59 China-linked apps days after violent brawl between Indian and Chinese soldiers in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley was a “digital strike”.

“We banned Chinese apps to protect data of countrymen; it was a digital strike,” the telecom and IT minister was quoted as saying.

Apart from banning apps like TikTok and UC browser; India has also targeted Chinese telecom and tech giants Huawei and ZTE by cancelling 4G upgrade tenders, and barred Chinese companies from participating in Indian highway projects, including through the joint venture route.

TikTok, which built a huge audience in, will be the most affected. The app has been installed more than 61 crore times in India, accounting for nearly a third of its worldwide user base.
The tensions have already caused a severe hit to Huawei, the Chinese smartphone and telecom equipment giant, which was already cut off from the US.

India is also now looking to bar China’s telecommunications infrastructure for upgrade of its 4G network, and more significantly, the rollout of the 5G networks.

The above developments are being considered as steps hitting China where it hurts. The government’s decisions, strike at a number of China’s leading technology companies like ByteDance, Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu- that are key to China’s ambitions to expand its power.

Is made of glass and is on the beach
Virus proof
Gets clean on its own