India on Wednesday banned PUBG Mobile among 118 Chinese apps.
After the ban on PUBG Mobile, PUBG Mobile Lite and other 116 Chinese mobile apps by the Indian government amid China's provocative actions at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), a rattled Beijing via its state-run media Global Times has made a statement on the latest apps ban. China's Global Times quoting experts in a tweet said that this has been done by India to deflect the attention.
"India's latest move to ban 118 Chinese apps on Wednesday, following renewed border tension, underscored the Modi government's "adventurism and opportunism” in an ill-intentioned move to deflect attention away from a potential collapse due to coronavirus and a crippled economy: Expert."
Earlier in the day, India banned 118 Chinese mobile apps, including popular game PUBG, citing data privacy concerns and a threat to national security. This takes the total count of Chinese-linked mobile apps banned by India to 224.
The 118 apps include Baidu, Baidu Express Edition, Alipay, Tencent Watchlist, FaceU, WeChat reading, Government WeChat, Tencent Weiyun, APUS Launcher Pro, APUS Security, Cut Cut, ShareSave by Xiaomi, and CamCard, besides PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite, according to an official release.
"The Government blocks 118 mobile apps which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, the security of the state and public order," the statement said.
The move comes amid fresh border tensions with China in Ladakh when India foiled repeated attempts by Chinese troops to transgress into the Indian side of Line of Actual Control (LAC) with intentions to unilaterally change the status quo. However, following recent developments, India is in stronger positions at Finger 4 and Finger 5 hill-top areas in the region.
The statement cited numerous complaints received by the IT Ministry 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 to servers outside India.
Earlier on June 29, the government had banned 59 Chinese apps, including hugely popular TikTok and UC Browser, saying they were prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity and security of the country.
That ban, applicable on apps such as WeChat and Bigo Live, had come in the backdrop of a stand-off along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh with Chinese troops. The June ban was followed by blocking of 47 more Chinese apps that were clones and variants of the ones banned earlier.
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