According to the US Intelligence Community’s Annual Threat Assessment, increased military postures by both India and China along the disputed border raise the risk of armed conflict between the two nuclear powers.
According to the US Intelligence Report, this could include direct threats to US persons and interests, necessitating US intervention. According to the report, India-China relations will remain strained in the aftermath of the countries’ deadly clash in 2020, the most serious in decades.
This is despite the fact that the two countries have been holding bilateral border talks and resolving border issues.
According to the US Intelligence Report, previous standoffs between India and China have demonstrated that persistent low-level friction on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) has the potential to escalate quickly.
In the midst of the ongoing military standoff with China along the Line of Actual Control, defence intelligence agencies recently issued a strong warning to formations to ensure that troops are not using Chinese mobile phones.
“Formations and units are to sensitise their personnel through various forms and channels to exercise caution with such (Chinese) mobile phone devices,” the advisory issued by the defence intelligence agencies said.
In the advisory accessed by ANI, the military spy agencies asked the formations to “discourage troops and their families from purchasing or using phones from countries hostile to India.”
The forces issued the advisory as there have been cases where malware and spyware have allegedly been found in Chinese-origin mobile phones by agencies, the sources said.
The spy agencies have asked the units and formations to “carry out the transition to other phones against the phones” mentioned in the list attached to the advisory.
Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi, One Plus, Honor, Real Me, ZTE, Gionee, ASUS, and Infinix are among the Chinese smartphone brands available in the country.
In the past, spy agencies were very active against Chinese mobile phone applications, with multiple such applications being deleted from military personnel’s phones.
The Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) held its 26th meeting on 22 February 2023 in Beijing, the first in-person meeting since July 2019.
