Advisory issued to refrain from using 11 brands of Chinese mobile phones

- Instructions to commanders to make soldiers aware of dangers from Chinese phones

New Delhi, March 14 (HS): The Indian Army has banned the use of Chinese phones by military personnel deployed across the country. Military intelligence officers at the Army Headquarters in New Delhi have issued an advisory to troops deployed across the country to refrain from using 11 brands of Chinese mobile phones. In an advisory, the Director General of Military Intelligence has directed formation and unit commanders to sensitize troops about the dangers of using Chinese mobile phones.

In the advisory issued by the Army Headquarters, soldiers and their families have been advised to avoid buying or using mobile phones of enemy country companies. The list includes mobile phones from Chinese companies Vivo, Oppo, Honor, Xiaomi, One Plus, Realme, ZTE, Meizu, Gionee, Infinix and Asus. It has also been said in the advisory that the jawans who have mobile phones from the said companies must change them by March 30.

Military intelligence officers have instructed formation and unit commanders to sensitize troops about the dangers of using Chinese mobile phones. Also, instructions have been given to submit the completion report in this regard by March 30. Officials say it is an internal matter of the army to take precautionary measures in the past for soldiers not to use Chinese phones of 11 brands in view of national security.

Indeed, many Russian troops at war with Ukraine were using cellular networks in the Donbas region and the Ukrainians had access to their data. For this reason, many Russian commanders and soldiers were directly targeted by Ukraine. In this technologically advanced age, soldiers can be easily affected due to information leakage. That's why just banning Chinese phones cannot be a security measure, as messaging apps of Chinese origin are also dangerous.

Hindusthan Samachar/ Suneet/Indrani Sarkar