India bans 43 more Chinese apps in latest salvo at Beijing

By : AFP

Date: 24 November 2020 4:34pm WAT

INDIA-CHINA-CONFLICT-DIPLOMACY-ECONOMY-TECHNOLOGY

A man looks at the "PUBG Mobile" game, owned by Chinese internet giant Tencent, in the App Store on an Apple iPhone in New Delhi on September 2, 2020. - India on September 2 banned 118 Chinese apps as it stepped up economic hostilities over an increasingly bitter border showdown between the giant neighbours. (Photo by Jewel SAMAD / AFP)

India banned 43 more Chinese apps on Tuesday including some from e-commerce giant Alibaba, saying they threatened its “sovereignty and integrity” as tensions remain high between the nuclear-armed neighbours following a deadly border clash.

New Delhi previously pulled 59 Chinese apps — including the wildly popular video-sharing platform TikTok — from its huge domestic market, weeks after the high-altitude battle in the Ladakh region in June when 20 Indian soldiers were killed.

A further 118 Chinese mobile applications, including the hit shoot ’em up game PUBG, were banned in September.
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The latest tranche of banned apps include Alibaba’s AliExpress, delivery service Lalamove as well as dating and live-streaming apps.

Alibaba’s investments in the booming online market in the nation of 1.3 billion people include digital payments platform Paytm and online grocer BigBasket.
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Anti-China sentiment has soared in India since the clash and sparked calls for a boycott of goods from the neighbouring country.

India’s imports from China, which include toys, cosmetics, home appliances, auto components and steel, totalled US$74.9 billion last year, according to New Delhi.

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