Google pulls ‘Remove China Apps’ from the Play Store

An app designed to remove Chinese apps from smartphones and tablets has been pulled from the Google Play Store. 

The app, called ‘Remove China Apps’, garnered nearly five million downloads in India, where anti-Chinese sentiment is growing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was free to download, had no adds, and its sole purpose was to detect which apps on a smartphone were built in China. 

Users would then be able to swiftly delete them from their handsets via the app itself.

Google has now removed the Indian app from its store, citing a violation of its Deceptive Behaviour Policy.

 

Remove China Apps garnered almost five million downloads in India where anti-Chinese sentiment is growing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.It was free to download, had no adds, and its sole purpose was to detect which apps on a smartphone were built in Chin

TechCruch reports the app has now been removed from the Play Store for making changes to a user’s phone outside of the app. 

The ability of Remove China Apps to delete apps from the phone is the offending feature, not the fact it facilitates a growing feeling of unease towards China. 

The app was wildly popular in India, the world’s second most populous nation, becoming the top trending app there following its release in late May.  

It was created by Jaipur-based company OneTouch AppLabs and enabled civilians to show their patriotism by ridding their device of anything that may support China.

It comes as the two nations develop a growing sense of animosity towards one another, seemingly running from the nations’ officials down to its civilians. 

Indian users could use the app to swiftly delete Chinese apps on their handset via the app itself. Google has now removed the Indian app from its store, citing a violation of its Deceptive Behaviour Policy

Indian users could use the app to swiftly delete Chinese apps on their handset via the app itself. Google has now removed the Indian app from its store, citing a violation of its Deceptive Behaviour Policy

Growing causes of Indian-Chinese hostility 

Covid-19

Remove China Apps garnered almost five million downloads in India where anti-Chinese sentiment is growing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Business Insider reports that 67 per cent of Indians hold China responsible for the spread of the pandemic. 

It comes as the WHO claims China was slow to share early critical data on Covid-19, according to internal recordings.

Himalayan border dispute 

Disagreement over a stretch of the China-India border called the line of actual control (LAC) has led to military posturing from both sides. 

In May, soldiers from both sides ended up in physical confrontations, with fists, rods and stones used as weapons.   

Indian and foreign military experts say the Chinese are displeased with India building a road on its side of the border to easier transport military vehicles. 

Economy 

India amended its foreign direct investment policy in April to make it harder for Chinese firms to buy out struggling Indian companies. 

In New Delhi it was said this was to ‘curb the opportunistic takeover’ from the Chinese.

Indian Prime Minister Modi has also called for a boycott of foreign companies

Together, the two countries have a combined population of 2.7 billion people – more than a third of the world. The number of people in India and China today exceeds the global population in 1950. 

China has the world’s most rapidly growing economy due to three decades of ruthless investment and expansion from its communist government. 

India, meanwhile, has one of the swiftest growing economies in the world. However, the nation has been hit hard by the ongoing pandemic, and its economy is expected to contract by up to ten per cent due to the coronavirus fallout. 

Business Insider reports that 67 per cent of Indians hold China responsible for the spread of the pandemic. 

As a result, India amended its foreign direct investment policy in April to make it harder for Chinese firms to buy out struggling Indian companies. 

In New Delhi it was said this was to ‘curb the opportunistic takeover’ from the Chinese.

Indian Prime Minister Modi has also called for a boycott of foreign companies and increased focus on Indian-made goods to boost the economy.   

Amit Shah, India’s home minister, urged India’s population to avoid foreign goods in order to give the country’s economy ‘a jump’.  

This, as well as a rising form of nationalism in both India and China, has seen tensions between the two countries boil over. 

Disagreement over a stretch of the China-India border called the Line of Actual Control (LAC) has led to military posturing from both sides. 

In May, soldiers from both sides ended up in physical confrontations, with fists, rods and stones used as weapons.   

Indian and foreign military experts say the Chinese are displeased with India building a road on its side of the border to easier transport military vehicles.  

‘The Chinese don’t like the infrastructure being built along the Indian side of the border, although they have built infrastructure on their side,’ Srikanth Kondapalli, professor of Chinese studies at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University told DW. 

‘So essentially, they are saying, ‘We can develop infrastructure but you shouldn’t’.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk