This illustration picture taken on July 24, 2019 in Paris shows the logo of the Chinese instant messaging app WeChat on the screen of a tablet. (MARTIN BUREAU / AFP)
India’s decision to block access to more Chinese apps has jeopardized the studies of thousands of Indian students who continue to face difficulties in attending their online classes from India following the ban.
China has not yet opened its borders for foreign students enrolled in its universities and Indian students who have returned to India since the pandemic began continue to suffer as China uses home-grown apps to conduct online classes which are banned in India.
Since June 2020, the Indian government has banned a total of 231 Chinese apps. While 118 applications, including popular game PUBG, were banned on September 2020, 59 apps including TikTok, Shareit, WeChat, Helo, Likee, UC News were blocked two months later
Last month, the federal ministry of electronics and information technology decided to block access to 54 Chinese apps, claiming that they "pose a threat to India's security."
The banned Chinese apps included Beauty Camera: Sweet Selfie HD, Beauty Camera – Selfie Camera, Equalizer & Bass Booster, CamCard for SalesForce Ent, Isoland 2: Ashes of Time Lite, Viva Video Editor, Tencent Xriver, Onmyoji Chess, Onmyoji Arena, AppLock and Dual Space Lite. Many of these companies see India as an avenue of growth.
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Since June 2020, the government has banned a total of 231 Chinese apps. While 118 applications, including popular game PUBG, were banned on September 2020, 59 apps including TikTok, Shareit, WeChat, Helo, Likee, UC News were blocked two months later.
Tarun Dev, from New Delhi, had taken admission in Wuhan University in December 2020 for a Chinese language program. He was forced to discontinue his studies after he faced lots of problems while attending online classes following the ban.
Supradip Das, from West Bengal, had taken admission in Beijing Language and Culture University to pursue a degree certificate course in Chinese language.
He returned to India during the winter break in January 2020 and could not attend many online classes following the ban. He later decided to to stop his studies in China.
According to the Indian Embassy in China amid the COVID-19 outbreak, around 23,000 Indian students were enrolled in China, most of them taking courses in medical colleges. Most Indian students returned from China in February 2020 because of the pandemic.
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Students said the ban on Chinese apps is hampering their studies as Chinese universities use homegrown apps like WeChat, SuperStar, and DingTalk (Ding Ding), Baidu translate, Youku, Weibo, QQ, QQnewsfeed whose accesses are now blocked in India.
“Connecting to a VPN to access these apps makes the system slow and the audio/video often hang. When going back to offline classes is not possible, lifting the ban on these apps could have at least provided some relief for us,” said Nagmani, an MBBS student enrolled in China’s Jinan University in Guangzhou.
Thousands of students are clueless about when they can return to their campuses.
Reacting to New Delhi's recent move, China's Ministry of Commerce last month urged India to improve its business environment and treat all foreign investors, including Chinese companies, in a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory manner.
Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said China and India are inseparable neighbors and important economic and trade partners for each other. In 2021, the bilateral trade volume between China and India reached $125.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 43 percent.
READ MORE: China urges India to backtrack on ban on Chinese apps
Talking about whether the ban will affect the bilateral trade between the two countries, Professor Murali Kallummal with Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi, said it may also affect the bilateral trade in services between the two countries and the confidence of Chinese companies doing business in India.
The writer is a freelance journalist for China Daily.