China's Xiaomi fixes app omitting Ladakh & Arunachal Pradesh; expert alleges 'propaganda'

Chinese Mobile Manufacturer Xiaomi on Monday said that it has resolved the issue of its weather app wherein phones were not showing weather of certain Indian territories - namely the Union Territory of Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh - amid huge backlash.

A statement was issued by Xiaomi India on Monday saying that the issue has been fixed. “There was a technical issue in our weather app that we had identified. The same has been fixed,” a statement attributable to a Xiaomi spokesperson said.

This invited a sharp criticism against the Chinese mobile player on social media as both the areas left out in the Xiaomi weather app are those which China covets and stakes claim to.

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Cyber Expert calls it propaganda

“This is the same propaganda which China is doing on the Line of Actual Control - they are claiming that area which is far from reality. This has been from the very start if we look a the history,” Cyber expert Prof. Vinod Sharma said.

He added that these Chinese-manufactured Weather Apps don’t show many areas that are part of India including Kargil and Itanagar, though they are parts of India. This could be a pre-designed conspiracy of China which can be problematic in the long run.

“At Mi India, we take great pride in the love and trust that our fans and consumers across the country have bestowed on us. We would like to clarify that the weather app on our devices uses data from multiple third-party data sources and we understand that for many locations, the weather-related data is not available on the current app. This is a technical error on our application. That said, we are working on improving the app to get the best experience for our users. As always, we are committed to India and our users across the country to provide them with the best possible user experience,” statement attributable to MI Spokesman said.

This came at a time when relations between India and China have been strained due to ongoing tension at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the Indian Government has banned 59 apps in June, 47 clone apps in July and 118 apps in September, taking a total to 224.

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