PLA-linked Chinese companies operating in India under scanner

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government contemplating more economic measures against China, the security agencies are identifying the communist country's companies, which have past or continuing links with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and are operating in India.

The companies so far identified for having links with the Chinese PLA include Alibaba Group Holding Limited, Tencent Holdings Limited, Huawei Technologies Company Limited, and SAIC Motor Corporation Limited. The list also includes the Xinxing Cathay International Group Company Limited, which has invested in the Xindia Steels Limited that has an iron ore pelletisation facility in Koppal district of Karnataka.

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A source in New Delhi said that the security agencies would assess if the continued operation of the companies linked with the Chinese PLA in India could pose any risk to national security.

The move comes in the wake of China’s belligerence along the disputed boundary with India.

The Xinxing Cathay International Group Company Limited is integrated and recombined from the manufacturing system and its subordinate enterprises and institutions of the General Logistics Department of the Chinese PLA. Apart from investing in the plant at Koppal in Karnataka, it also has a ductile iron pipe manufacturing plant in Chhattisgarh. It is linked with Jihua Group Company Limited, which is the production base for military supplies to the Chinese PLA and the armed police force and the main purchase and processing base for the international military munitions market.

The China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) in June 2018 announced a $ 46 million (Rs 320 crores) investment in a 200 MW solar photo-voltaic cell manufacturing facility in Andhra Pradesh. It is China’s leading military electronics manufacturer and the United States barred exports from several subsidiaries of the company on national security grounds. Apart from being implicated by the US Department of Justice in several cases of illegal exports, some of the CETC employees have also been convicted for military espionage in America. The CETC is also accused of providing technology used for human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

The Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu Inc are involved in developing Artificial Intelligence solutions in several domains as a part of the civil-military fusion programme of China. SAIC Motor Corporation Limited, a former vehicle servicing unit of the Chinese PLA, is the parent company of MG Motors, that sells a popular SUV MG Hector, in India.

New Delhi earlier this month banned 59 apps linked to China, alleging that they were used in activities “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order”.

New Delhi of late decided to bar China’s companies from participating in highway construction projects in India. The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and the Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Limited (MTNL) of late cancelled tender inviting bids from companies for supply of equipment for upgrading its network to 4G – a move, which is apparently aimed at keeping away Huawei Technologies Company and ZTE Corporation of China away from the project and stopping them from expanding footprints in the telecom sector of India.