India continues to ban Chinese apps amid border standoff

Chinese e-commerce platform AliExpress is the latest casualty in yet another Indian ban on Chinese mobile apps.

India’s government has banned 43 more Chinese apps citing cyber security concerns, taking the total to 220.

The move comes even as the two countries hold talks to ease border tensions, sparked by fighting in June that left 20 Indian soldiers dead.

India’s government said the apps were engaged in activities that hurt India’s “sovereignty and integrity”.

The spokesperson for the Chinese embassy has described the “repeated use” of national security concerns as an “excuse”, adding that they “hoped” for a “fair, impartial and non-discriminatory business environment”.

Experts also say the ban is more a response to China than a reflection of data or privacy concerns.

The two nuclear-armed neighbours had been deploying troops along their border since April but the situation escalated in June, when a savage brawl broke out in the Galwan river valley in Ladakh, a disputed Himalayan border region.

Twenty Indian troops died without a single shot being fired. India said both sides suffered casualties, but China is yet to confirm its number of dead or injured.