Indian military intelligence has told soldiers that they and their families shouldn’t use Chinese cell phones. Also, it tells soldiers and their families not to buy or use mobile phones made in China and tells soldiers with Chinese-made phones to change them by March 20.
The advisory lists the mobile phone brands that can be bought in India. They are Vivo, Oppo, Honor, Xiaomi, One Plus, Realme, ZTE, Meizu, Gionee, Infinix, and Asus. The advisory was made because some agencies are said to have found malware and spyware on mobile phones from China.
The advisory tells formation and unit commanders to warn their troops about the risks of using Chinese mobile phones. It also says, “Formations and units should warn their personnel in different ways to be careful with these (Chinese) mobile phone devices.” Also, the advisory asks the formations to “discourage troops and their families from buying or using phones from countries that are hostile to India.”
A high-ranking officer said, “This isn’t the first time an advisory like this has been written, but it hasn’t been sent out yet as planned.” Always, the message is clear. Everyone knows what China wants and how dangerous it is to use mobile phones made there.
It’s important to remember that after the Galwan valley clash, the Indian government banned several Chinese mobile apps after it was shown that using Chinese phones and apps could lead to data breaches in 2020. Experts have talked about the dangers of these phones and how they could be used for spying and getting private information.
Another senior officer said, “You shouldn’t trust a country like China, which has an overly ambitious plan for growth and has worked hard in the last few years to change the status quo along the LAC. The agencies are careful because these devices can lead to the location of our troops and deployments. We’ve also taken steps in the past.”
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