The latest ban on 59 China-linked apps has sent a signal to the West that India is prepared to take bold decisions to protect its security and sovereignty against an increasingly belligerent neighbour.
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| US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo |
In banning 59 apps of purported Chinese origin – a move that was, presumably, made in retaliation to the disturbing events that unfolded on June 15 that lead to the deaths of twenty Indian soldiers at the Sino-Indian border in Eastern Ladakh – Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a definitive statement that India was prepared to employ unconventional means to resist undue pressure from China.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, China has displayed a remarkable degree of aggression on numerous fronts. From the boundary dispute in the Himalayas, to maritime encroachment in the South China Sea, to the controversial national security law passed in Hong Kong, and, more recently, in inflaming territorial discord with Bhutan, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has, in the course of the last few months, embarked on a path of flagrant adventurism, all in the midst of a pandemic that India's northern neighbour has been accused of mismanaging.
In light of this, China's image both, regionally and internationally, has suffered immensely, as evidenced with the 'Boycott China' movement in India gaining steam, and, now with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's endorsement of India's decision to ban TikTok and other Chinese apps, and suggestion that the US may soon follow suit. On Monday, the US also weighed in on the India-China border dispute, welcoming the de-escalation but condemning what it deemed China's “aggressive behaviour” both domestically and against its neighbours. The latest statement follows from US President Donald Trump's previous assertion that China's maneuvring at the border "fits with a pattern of aggression in other parts of the world," rebuking what has largely been viewed as an expansionist agenda adopted by Beijing in recent months.
Join the geopolitical dots: US hints at banning TikTok taking a pro-India stance on Ladakh.https://t.co/MIOnil6DNT— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) July 7, 2020
PM Modi's decision to ban TikTok, an app that several analysts have noted may very well be used to harvest and transfer sensitive data of millions of Indian users abroad, will indubitably hit China where the pain is most acute – its pockets – while setting a novel precedent in its acknowledgement of cyberspace as a crucial domain of geopolitical warfare. US lawmakers have incessantly warned of national security vulnerabilities arising from China-backed apps like TikTok, noting that they may be compelled to share data with Chinese federal authorities at the behest of the CCP. Despite this, the US, like India until recently, remained one of TikTok's biggest markets.
China's own “Great Firewall” which limits the consumption of numerous publications and platforms, is well documented, yet its own applications like ByteDance's TikTok, Tencent's WeChat, or Alibaba's Weibo - all of which have avoided the same regulatory oversight that Google or Facebook have been subject to - have, for years, enjoyed lucrative access to foreign markets that has seen their valuations skyrocket, often at the cost of indigenous digital offerings.
Within the context of Chinese President Xi Jinping's 2015 call for all countries to respect “cyberspace sovereignty,” the latest app ban should then be viewed as no more, or less, than a calibrated and measured response to China's aggressive posturing.
China's belligerence may, in the view of many analysts, come at a dear cost to the nation, especially given its opaqueness in policy making. India, meanwhile, has shown that it is unafraid to showcase its musculature, in the face of a neighbour that appears obstinate in its quest to alienate the very states that it has come to rely on so heavily over the last two decades.
Source : Times Now
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