Alka Acharya, professor of Chinese Studies at
Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. The
soldiers’ deaths meant the Indian government
had to hit back, Acharya said.
The ban on Chinese apps, signed by India’s
powerful Home Minister Amit Shah, asked
phone companies to begin blocking the
applications, as top Army officers from India and
China were set to meet for a third time to try to
quell tensions and rein back on military build-
ups in the disputed border area.
Supporters of the ban hailed it as a way to curtail
China’s growing influence.
“They are earning from us and then bullying us,”
30-year-old Sonu Mishra said in New Delhi.
Others bemoaned the potential loss of jobs
at the app companies’ Indian offices. Some
slammed it as an encroachment on free speech.