NEW DELHI: The Indian government has set up an inquiry into the revelations that a Chinese company is spying on Indian citizens including the top political class and officials across the board. The issue was raised in the ongoing Parliamentary session by
Congress MP KC Venugopal
on Wednesday.
Foreign minister
S Jaishankar, in a letter to Venugopal, said that China had denied any links with the private company while the company
Shenzhen
Zhenhua had also said that the data collected was from open sources and was no different from what was done by western companies. It had denied accessing private information about the individuals from confidential sources.
Jaishankar said the MEA took up the matter with the Chinese ambassador on Wednesday while the Indian embassy in
Beijing
also broached the subject with the foreign ministry of China.
“The Government of India takes very seriously the protection of the privacy and personal data of Indian citizens. It is deeply concerned at any report that suggests that foreign sources are accessing or seeking to access the personal data of our citizens without their consent. The Government has constituted an Expert Committee under the National Cyber Security Coordinator to study these reports, evaluate their implications, assess any violations of law and submit its recommendations within thirty days,” the minister wrote.