“We hope India can take concrete measures to maintain the sound development momentum of bilateral economic and trade cooperation,” Gao Feng, a spokesperson in the Chinese commerce ministry, was quoted as saying by newswire Reuters.
India should treat all foreign investors, including Chinese firms, in a transparent and non-discriminatory manner, Feng said, according to the Reuters report.
The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) did not respond to ET’s email till press time Thursday.
The banned apps were rebranded avatars of those taken down earlier in 2020, when the government had shut down nearly 224 apps including popular ones like TikTok, Shareit, WeChat, Helo, Likee, UC News, Bigo Live, UC Browser, ES File Explorer and Mi Community.
Those banned in the latest round include a host of games such as Garena Free Fire; Isoland 2: Ashes of Time Lite; Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade; Conquer Online and Twilight Pioneers.
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ET reported on Monday that MeitY had ordered the latest ban, terming the apps a “threat to national security”.
ET also reported that the government was planning to continue its scrutiny of Chinese apps that illegally steal data of Indians and send it to servers outside the country.
The latest ban also includes messaging and dating apps such as CuteU: Match With The World, CuteU Pro and FunChat Meet People Around You. The list also has video-based social media platforms such as SmallWorld, FancyU, MoonChat and RealU.
Photo enhancing and editing apps such as Sweet Selfie HD and Beauty Camera, apart from audio editing app Equalizer & Bass Booster, business card scanning app CamCard, video editing app Viva Video Editor, lock service app AppLock, and interface cloning app Dual Space Lite, are also on the list.
