Beijing says it is 'seriously concerned' as India cracks down on Chinese companies
Beijing said that it is "seriously
concerned" about actions India has taken against Chinese companies this
week, including banning apps.
"Indian authorities have taken a series
of repressive measures against Chinese companies and related products in India,
which has seriously damaged the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies,"
said Gao Feng, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, during
a press conference in Beijing on Thursday.
The rebuke comes days after India blocked
access to 54 apps in the country over security concerns, according to details
shared this week with CNN Business by a senior government representative from
the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Many of the banned apps are Chinese,
belonging to tech companies such as Tencent, Alibaba and NetEase, Bloomberg reported, quoting unnamed sources.
Additionally, this week Chinese firm Huawei
said India's tax authorities "visited" its office in the
country and met with some Huawei personnel.
"Huawei is confident our operations in
India is firmly compliant to all laws and regulations," the telecoms
equipment maker said, adding that it will cooperate with the Indian government.
While the company did not give any other
details, Reuters reported — quoting an unnamed source — that tax
authorities conducted searches at the tech giant's offices in New Delhi,
Gurugram and Bangalore on Tuesday.
"Officials from the income tax department
looked at Huawei's financial documents, account books and company records,
Indian businesses and overseas transactions, " Reuters added, citing local
media reports. "Some records were also seized."
The income tax department did not respond to
a request for comment.
This is not the first time India has banned
Chinese apps. In 2020, India banned more than 200 mostly Chinese apps,
including the wildly popular video platform TikTok.
While the Indian government's statement on
the TikTok ban had not mentioned China by name, it had come
at a time when military tensions between the two countries were escalating
following deadly border clashes. At the time, many Indians had called for a
boycott of Chinese goods and services, particularly from China's dominant tech
industry.
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