On July 1,2020, activists held a protest campaign against China in Jammu, India, behind the icons of some Chinese applications that India government announced banned.
The announcement of a ban on 59 popular chinese mobile-phone applications following china-india border conflict government was appreciated by the u.s. Secretary of State, and the nationalist sentiment inspired by china-india seems to have pushed india further to the brink of "decoupling" from china, but it remains unclear whether india, which has a "non-aligned" tradition, will join the u.s.-led western technology camp.
After the conflict of the border, India completely excluded Chinese technology products and investment
The paulson foundation MacroPolo the top 10 non-game apps downloaded most by indian smartphone users in 2019, six of which are chinese products, by collating data Sensor Tower by market research firms. These include the dithering overseas version TikTok、 video program Likee, which topped the list with 300 million downloads, and the VMate、 social platform Helo、 file transfer tool "eggplant fast pass "(SHAREit), as well as the UC browser.
The most popular chinese apps in india are blacklisted by the information technology department of india on june 29.
"We welcome India's ban on certain mobile applications that can serve as a tool for China's Communist Party monitoring system ," said Secretary of State Pompeo on July 1. "
He said :" India's purge of applications will enhance India's sovereignty 、 integrity and national security. "
Mr. Pompeo's statement echoed an official statement from India's Ministry of Information Technology explaining the ban on Chinese mobile phone programs.
At the same time, Indian officials closed the official account of Sina Weibo of Prime Minister Modi on July 1.
Prior to this, on June 15, a bloody clash between China and India in the Ladakh region killed at least 20 Indian soldiers. Chinese officials have not announced the number of Chinese casualties. Analysts say that the Sino-Indian border conflict has exacerbated India ' s anti-Chinese sentiment in the field of science and technology, and India, which is dependent on China in trade, is seeking counter-attackable industries.
The Indian Think Tank Observer Research Foundation (Observer Research Foundation) US program director Drewa Jaychankar (Dhruva Jaishankar) said India's long-standing concerns about Chinese technology companies' occupation of the Indian market include long-standing concerns about the security and privacy of Chinese mobile phone programs. He said public dissatisfaction with China deepened after the outbreak of a new type of coronary virus in India.
But this very sudden ban on 59 applications was apparently caused by the recent violence incident at the Indo-China border. "Jaychankar told VOA.
Officially instructed India to extend its crackdown to Chinese infrastructure
Mr jayishankar argues that china's domestic market protectionism puts foreign technology companies, including indian companies, in an unequal competitive position, and that india's ban on chinese technology companies is a counter-attack.
He said :" India's overall feeling is that China does not give Indian technology companies market opportunities ,(relationship) has not been mutually beneficial. Indeed, India is actually one of their biggest markets for the user base of the US and Chinese technology industries. "
Meanwhile, the fate of Chinese companies in India's infrastructure has increased uncertainty. Senior indian government officials are discussing whether to continue allowing chinese telecoms equipment giants Huawei and zte to participate in the country's five G of network investment, the times website reported.
The indian government said in december that it would allow telecoms firms, including chinese companies, to take part in testing G five indian network devices. CNBC cited data Counterpoint by industry analysts that
India's investment boycott in China is also extending from the information technology level to other infrastructure areas. India Road Transport and Road minister Nitin Gakali (Nitin Gadkari) said on July 1 that India will not allow Chinese companies to participate in India's highway projects in a joint venture.
Some analysts believe that the high market share of Chinese products in India has become India's strategic constraints on China's target. China is India's largest source of deficit. India's exports to China last fiscal year (April 1,2019 to March 31,2020) amounted to $16.6 billion and imports from China reached $54.26 billion. Over the past decade, China has invested heavily in India, mainly in automobile, metallurgy, electrical equipment, services, etc.
Indian and American technology companies benefit
Indian software and western products could be the beneficiaries of the crackdown on chinese APP. Experts interviewed by voa said the ban on chinese APP would bring new market opportunities to indian and foreign technology platforms.
Mohamed Zishan (Mohamed Zeeshan), founder and editor-in-chief of the Indian Free Press (Freedom Gazette), said that the market gap left by India's "deportation" of Chinese applications would be filled by Indian and American companies.
"In some specific areas, Indian companies actually fill the market ," he said. For example, in video streaming, electronic payments, Indian companies are actually doing a good job, but in many other ways, the beneficiaries be foreign technology companies, especially American companies. "
The Indian media reported on July 4 that more than 10 million downloads of home-made applications Chingari similar to TikTok features were among the top two downloads in the two weeks at Google App Store.
The TikTok's indian internet star has also announced a move to facebook's Instagram and google-owned video website sites.
Another indian video-sharing app Roposo add 22 million users over the past two days. Reuters quoted the company's founder as saying the number of Roposo downloads is expected to exceed 100 million in the near future.
boycott Chinese products could hurt both sides
Whether it's mobile devices or APP software, however, a full boycott of Chinese products could be a short-term inconvenience for some Indian consumers.
"Many Indians, especially Indians from rural areas and non-English-speaking communities, suffer obvious losses in their economic and cultural gains on Chinese application platforms. "Akshir Diou (Akhil Deo), a researcher at the Science and Technology and Media Project of the Indian Observer Research Foundation, commented in an email to VOA.
In addition, in the area of smartphones, Chinese products have a long-term advantage in India, and Indian consumers may find it difficult to find comparable cost-effective alternatives in the short term.
"India is the world's most price-sensitive market, as Japanese cars sell more easily than European and American cars, and Chinese smartphones have similar advantages over Apple and even Samsung. "And in software ,[ Indian consumers] feel that Chinese products are almost the same as Apple and Samsung, but much cheaper than Apple and Samsung, which is why they have such market share. "
Analysis: Indian Technology and China Decoupling Route Different from US
Jay shankar, director of american programs at the observer research foundation, said india's attempt to "decouple" from chinese technology was to "ensure that chinese-based web platforms and infrastructure do not harm india's privacy and data rights and cyberspace ".
The relationship between the United States and India has deepened over the past five years, especially in military, the two sides have repeatedly conducted defense dialogue and military exercises, while the arrival of the new crown epidemic and the border between India and China conflict make India and the United States closer.
However, other indian policy analysts believe that, unlike the us's long-term strategy, india's "decoupling" of chinese technology is a product of a short-term crisis, and whether it continues remains to be seen.
Qi Shang, editor-in-chief of India ' s Liberty Daily, said: "I don ' t think India currently has any plans to play this long-term game. I think India still wants to stick to the principle of non-alignment – this is an old habit that is hard to change."
"This is a long-standing controversy for the West, which has long argued that Chinese technology is problematic. "India is not the same: just last December, the problem did not exist, and India was willing to let Huawei participate in G five pilot projects ," Zishan said. Of course, privacy and security concerns have been raised, but we are not as concerned with intellectual property in the West. Frankly speaking, our intellectual property protection regulations are not as advanced as the West. For India, it is more a political issue than a economic issue. "
Qishang believes that under the current Sino-Indian confrontation, the "serve right" is on the Chinese side. "If China believes that it does not want to engage in such a geopolitical war with India, the only thing it needs to do is extend an olive branch so that India and China can discuss and resolve the border issue and bring the situation back to where it was before it happened. "
"But to my confusion, China is actually more willing to run counter to it. They are aggressive in the South China Sea, in the East China Sea and in the Himalayan foothills. so in my opinion, the actual trend is that it is very likely that we will see the chinese carry out more offensive behavior, thus making the relationship of india and western countries closer.
