China on Thursday voiced concern over Indian government’s decision to ban 54 Chinese mobile applications as well as tax probes conducted on telecommunication giant Huawei. The Chinese called the moves an attempt to “suppress” its companies’ freedom to conduct businesses and has asked New Delhi to ensure “non-discriminatory” policies to manage its businesses.
“…relevant Indian authorities have taken a series of measures to suppress Chinese companies and their products in India, which have seriously damaged the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies… China expressed serious concern about this,” Commerce Ministry spokesperson Gao Feng said. He also expressed concerns about the investment regime in India. “… the Ministry has noticed that foreign investors, including Chinese companies, are also increasingly concerned about the investment environment in India… Foreign investors have created a large number of employment opportunities in India and made positive contributions to India’s economic development,” Feng said further.
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Emphasising upon Chinese-Indian trade relations, he said that the two countries have tremendous potential to increase their economic partnership. He hoped that the India government will ensure ease of business to propel foreign investment. “China and India are inseparable neighbours and important economic and trade partners for each other.” “The economic and trade cooperation between the two countries has strong resilience and great potential ($125.7 billion in 2021) … that the Indian side can take concrete measures to maintain the sound development momentum of bilateral economic and trade cooperation and to benefit the two countries,” Feng asserted.
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The Indian government had last week banned 54 Chinese apps (including Freefire) citing security concerns. The list of banned apps now extends to 321 in total. The Income Tax department conducted tax probes at multiple premises related to Huawei in Delhi, Gurugram and Bengaluru reportedly on charges of tax evasion. The relations between Indian and China have hit new low since the 2020 border standoff which peaked in June 2020 when 20 Indian soldiers were martyred in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh.
