India will oblige companies to receive special government permission for importing power supply equipment from China and Pakistan in light of border tensions, Indian Power Minister Raj Kumar Singh said on Friday
NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd July, 2020) India will oblige companies to receive special government permission for importing power supply equipment from China and Pakistan in light of border tensions, Indian Power Minister Raj Kumar Singh said on Friday.
"The total import in the power sector in 2018-19 was 710 billion rupees [$9.4 billion] of which 210 billion rupees were from China. We cannot tolerate this. A country which tries to transgress into our territory, kills our soldiers and we create jobs in that country? ... We have decided that we will not allow any imports from Prior Reference countries China and Pakistan," Singh said at a press conference, as quoted by NDTV.
According to the minister, Indian companies will need a government permission to import all power supply equipment and components from China or any other country. This equipment will be undergoing special checking for embedded malware, trojans and other cyberthreats.
Tensions over border disputes between the Asian giants in the Kashmir region came to a head in mid-June when a deadly brawl broke out between soldiers of both sides high up in the disputed Ladakh region. India said that 20 of its soldiers died in the skirmish while an undisclosed number of Chinese soldiers are believed to have perished. That was the first time in nearly 60 years that border disputes between the two, which have effectively never been settled, have resulted in fatalities.
Following the deadly border clash between the two countries, the Indian government said it had banned 59 Chinese-developed mobile apps, including Tik Tok, WeChat, Weibo and Mobile Legends. Prominent Indian politicians and public figures have called on citizens to boycott Chinese products.
