China launches global data protection plan against US, India app vetoes
Beijing, Sep 8 (efe-epa).- China will launch an initiative for global data security, the country’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced Tuesday after the latest vetoes by the United States and India on Chinese mobile applications.
In a speech delivered during a cybersecurity forum in Beijing, the Chinese foreign minister promised that Beijing will not ask Chinese companies to hand over data obtained abroad, something that would violate the laws of other countries.
In recent weeks, the United States announced vetoes of WeChat and TikTok, two of the most popular social networks that have been developed in China, due to its suspicions that user data is shared with the Chinese government, something that would endanger national security.
It had previously alluded to similar reasons to justify its veto of the Chinese technology Huawei, which it accuses of having links with Chinese intelligence.
For its part, India has gone further and has already banned almost 180 applications of Chinese origin in the context of border tensions facing both powers.
Wang demanded, in reference to the US initiative to “clean” its networks of Chinese influence, that acts of “harassment” of countries “using security as a pretext to hunt down companies from other countries that have a competitive advantage” be rejected.
According to the foreign minister, the Chinese plan will ask countries joining the initiative to oppose cyber activities that use data to undermine national security and public interests of other countries.
Likewise, opposition to “massive surveillance against other countries” and to national companies not storing data generated and obtained abroad in their nations of origin will be demanded.
Under this initiative, the head of Chinese diplomacy said technology companies will not be able to install “back doors” or services to illegally obtain user data or to control and manipulate their devices, nor take advantage of the dependence of citizens on their products.
Finally, Wang called on countries to respect the “sovereignty, jurisdiction and governance of data from other countries.”
Beijing rejects complaints from the US or India and has always defended that Chinese companies operating in other countries respect local laws, while companies affected by vetoes, such as TikTok or Huawei have repeatedly denied sharing data with the Chinese government.
In fact, when China has been accused of orchestrating cyberattacks against the United States, its response has been precisely to affirm that Washington is the one behind these types of offensives and that it is the US that launches surveillance campaigns against governments, companies or individuals from other countries. EFE-EPA
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