Published 17:37 IST, July 1st 2020
PM Modi quits Chinese app Weibo, all posts deleted after India bans 59 apps
After India banned 59 Chinese apps, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday, quit the Twitter-like Weibo account in China, removed all photos, posts, comment
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After India banned 59 Chinese apps, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday, quit the Twitter-like Weibo account in China. The account, which posted messages in Chinese, removed all photos, posts and comments from the PM's official handle. Reports state that 10 days ago, China had deleted 'official Indian statements', including PM Modi's speech from the Indian embassy’s official account on WeChat - China's popular social media app.
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PM Modi quits Weibo
PM Modi's Weibo account was set up in 2015 before his first visit to the country as Prime Minister. The account had 115 posts on Weibo, which had to be deleted manually as Weibo has a complex procedure to quit for VIP accounts. While the decision to quit from Weibo was taken immediately, an official process had to be initiated to remove the posts. Moreover, two of the 115 posts were delayed in removing as it is difficult to remove posts with the photo of the Chinese President. Now all posts have been deleted, here are screenshots of the account:
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India bans Chinese Apps
This move comes two days after India banned 59 Chinese Apps including Tik-Tok. The Centre has stated that it has received many complaints from various sources including several reports about the misuse of these apps for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers that have locations outside India. Hence, in a move to protect the sovereignty of Indian Cyberspace and to ensure the interests of crores of Indian mobile users, the government has stated that this was a major blow to China’s Digital Silk Route ambitions, amid the ongoing India-China standoff at the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
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Chinese goods boycott sentiment
After 20 soldiers were martyred at the LAC, several groups across the nation have protested against the sale of Chinese goods. Moreover, the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL)- a PSU under the aegis of the Ministry of Railways has terminated a Chinese company’s contract. The BCCI too has called a council meeting to rethink its sponsorship from Chinese companies. Centre too has taken several steps to decrease Chinese imports to make India more self-reliant. Apart from these, recently several Indian companies with Chinese funding have faced the ire of the public as 'ban Chinese goods' sentiment grows stronger.
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17:36 IST, July 1st 2020