'China boycott app' intensifies

Posted on 20th Jun 2020 by rohit kumar

The tension on the border between India and China has led to a campaign to boycott all products, including China's app. They also include many popular platforms such as video conferencing app Zoom, short video app TickTalk, UC Browser, file sharing app Shareite, and battle gaming app PUBG. Even apps like the 'Remove Chinese App' have come up, which are helping to identify and uninstall China's apps. Apart from this boycott campaign, Indian intelligence agencies have also identified more than 50 China-related apps as a threat to national security. There are concerns that these apps were not secure, so large numbers of data have been taken out of India.

Experts said the government may ban China's apps or those in domestic or other markets that it considers a threat to national security. Blaise Fernandes, director of the foreign policy expert group Gateway House, said, 'If they (apps) are inciting such communal violence or creating fear by spreading such misinformation or propaganda, which could lead to a revolt in the border states. Has the right to impose Section 69A of the IT Act. '

 

According to experts and industry experts, India has more than 400 million smartphones, so any activity to add or remove apps has an impact on the global evaluation of these platforms. This development is significant because the country has become the world's fastest-growing mobile application market in the last few years with 1.3 billion potential customers.

 

Fernandes said, "Various local organizations have called for the deletion of China's app, so there will be an impact." He said, "All of them will eventually bring IPOs (initial public issues), so they will also be impacted financially." Diwakar Vijayasarathy, founder and managing partner of professional services company DVS Advisors LLP, said the boycott of China's products was being called with the thought that 'hurt the sore side'.

 

Vijayasarthi said, "China's trade surplus with India is over 60 billion dollars and boycott of China's products will have a big impact if this campaign is successful."

 

But experts said it is also important to understand that it is not practical to boycott 100 percent of China's products. According to Salman Waris, managing partner at New Delhi's specialist technology law firm Teklejis Advocates & Solicitors, the boycott will affect the number of users of these apps in India for some time. Heir said, "However, it would be unwise to expect that this would have any effect from the geopolitical perspective." He said, "Companies and countries do not follow a short-term strategy."

 

This is the reason why China has invested more than $ 8 billion during the last five years in India's tech startup sector. India is one of the countries with the highest investment in China. Heir said, "China's digital and mobile dominance is deep-rooted in the Indian economy." Despite geopolitical issues between India and China, there is a huge business of $ 87 billion between the two. China's short video app TikTokak has generated revenue of around Rs 25 crore in the October-December 2019 quarter. It has set a revenue target of Rs 100 crore in India by September 2020. Prashanth Suugathan, Law Director at Software Freedom Law Center, India (SFLC), believes that the boycott of China's apps and products is an immediate response to the atmosphere against China at this time. Sugathan said, "These apps may have some impact in the short term, but if users find these apps useful they will adopt them again". He said, "The way Chinese companies have invested in India, Looking at him, this situation will not last long. '

 

Sugathan, however, said that if the app's servers are located in China and they are handling sensitive personal data, including financial information, they will have to ensure greater security. Trupti Jain, a lawyer and researcher for the Internet Democracy Project, said that unless a comprehensive framework of individual data security is prepared in the country, both fundamental rights of privacy and national security will remain at risk. Jain said, "Social media apps and online applications are built on the model of surveillance capitalism and in the absence of data protection laws, privacy violations and national security concerns will remain."

 

97 percent of Indians will not buy Chinese goods

A recent survey on imports from China, amidst a loud voice against China, shows that a large number of Indians want punitive action against this neighboring country. The survey conducted by LocalSarkal on more than 32,000 Indians in 235 districts shows that Indians are planning to shock China's economy by boycotting Chinese companies for a year. Indians not only want an import duty of 200 percent on all goods and services coming from China, but they also want mandatory labeling of China's products by Indian regulators to differentiate them based on their place of origin. However, many Indian manufacturers have recognized that Chinese manufacturing efficiency is far ahead of India and hence import duties should be limited to finished goods only. He said that this will help India to reduce its trade deficit with China to Rs 3.71 lakh crore (in 2019-20). B.S.

 

No military custody in India: China

Amid reports of some Indian forces being held hostage after a violent June 15 violent clash in the Galvan Valley, China said on Friday that no Indian soldiers were currently in its custody. A day before this statement by China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that the Indian soldiers who had clashed with Chinese forces in the Galvan Valley of eastern Ladakh were not missing. Zhao said, "As far as I know, no Indian soldier is in Chinese custody at this time." Asked if India has detained a Chinese jawan, he said, "China and India are communicating through diplomatic and military means to resolve the matter." At this time I have no information to give you. ' Zhao said, "I would like to reiterate about the serious situation in the Galvan Valley that right and wrong are very clear and the responsibility is entirely on the Indian side." People aware of the development said that the Chinese army released 10 Indian soldiers, including two majors, on Thursday evening after three days of talks.