The Chinese Commerce Ministry slammed on Thursday the recent move by the Indian government to ban more Chinese mobile apps, saying that such actions violate the legal interests of investors and service providers.
The ministry's spokesman Gao Feng has called on India to "correct its mistakes."
"On September 2, India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology announced banning use of 118 Chinese applications in India, under a pretext of a so-called undermining of India's sovereignty, [territorial] integrity, national defense, national security, and public order. In light of that, China expresses grave concern and strong protest," Gao said.
On 2 September, the Indian Ministry of Information and Technology announced a ban on 118 Chinese mobile applications, including those operated by internet giants Tencent and Alibaba.
The applications banned by the Indian authorities include the popular mobile game PUBG, the Weiyun cloud-based storage service, and the WeChat Work platform, which are all operated by Tencent.
Alibaba’s digital payments service Alipay is also affected, as well as services offered by Baidu and Sina.
The latest ban came after an altercation this past weekend on the border between China and India.
The two countries clashed this past June in the Galwan Valley, where the Indian region of Ladakh borders China’s Aksai Chin region, in a confrontation that left 20 Indian servicemen dead. The Chinese side didn't specify the exact number of casualties.
