Indian Newspaper Society slams China for restricting access to Indian newspapers

New Delhi, July 02: A day after China restricted access to Indian newspapers and media websites there, the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) on Thursday slammed the Chinese government for taking such decision. It has urged the Indian government to expeditiously take steps to ban access to Chinese media in the country.

 

 

INS president Shailesh Gupta on behalf of its members said the action of the Chinese government to restrict access to Indian newspapers and media websites is uncalled for. He also revealed that even access through the VPN (Virtual Private Network) server has been blocked by creating a technologically advanced firewall. However, the Indian TV channels can still be accessed through IP TV.

 

This development comes after on Monday the Indian government banned 59 Chinese apps with Chinese including the hugely popular TikTok and UC Browser, for engaging in "activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, the security of the state and public order".

 

Shailesh Gupta urged the government of India "to expeditiously take steps to ban all kinds of access to Chinese media in India and call off collaborations/investments made by Chinese in Indian media companies with immediate effect," the INS statement said.

 

Thereafter, China has reportedly blocked over 10,000 websites in the country. The blacklist includes social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp and other news outlets like Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.