India has banned 54 Chinese apps in a new order citing security concerns, according to a local newspaper report, in the latest instance of tensions between the two neighbors locked in a protracted border dispute impacting business dealings.
The South Asian nation’s ministry of electronics and IT has banned apps including those belonging to large China tech firms such as Tencent, Alibaba and NetEase, that are re-branded versions of apps already banned by India in 2020, the Economic Times reported Monday.
A spokesman for the Home Affairs ministry did not immediately comment on the matter.
The latest move comes as a long-running dispute between the two nuclear-armed nations remains unresolved, after boiling over in a bloody 2020 skirmish that left soldiers from both sides dead, and drew tougher laws in India for investments from China, including the original app ban.
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India and China share an unmarked 3,488 km (2,170 miles) long border along the Himalayas, where thousands of troops, tanks and artillery guns from both countries have been massed since then. Tensions remain between the two countries remain, with India’s army chief citing the risk of Chinese aggression as recently as last month. (Bloomberg)
