Mo Xizhi (left) and his wife Photo: Courtesy of Mo Xizhi
Mo Xizhi, a Chinese photographer and blogger with his own WeChat official account who lives in southern India with his pregnant Indian wife, has felt stressed since India decided to take a series of measures aimed at China.
In Mo's view, the ban and limitations to Chinese mobile applications such as Tiktok and WeChat have affected non-governmental exchanges between the two countries.
After getting married to a woman born in Ladakh in 2018, the photographer, living in Coimbatore, has been running a WeChat account with a column to respond to Chinese readers' curiosity about India and display the real India to his audience.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mo cannot travel around to take pictures so his focus has transferred to the column.
"All WeChat accounts that had been registered with Indian phone numbers have been blocked, while some accounts registered with Chinese phone numbers are still available," Mo told the Global Times on Monday. "I can obviously feel that the speed of accessing the Chinese servers and websites is much slower than before, which will make it unstable. Scanning the WeChat code for login often requires repeated attempts."
One of Mo's friends who lives in Bangalore and also runs a WeChat official account is not as lucky as Mo. She has not been able to open her account and upload content, which means the blogger has no way to share something with her WeChat followers.
Many people who display Indian stories for Chinese audiences have come back to China, Mo said. "I only know two other people who still stay here and share Indian stories through articles and short videos. One is a Chinese student learning in Delhi and the other is my friend in Bangalore."
Lots of countries' people just have a limited understanding of each other and they need these "couriers" of information to get a full view. But this exchange between China and India is being blocked.
"Many Indians' understanding of China is based on short videos on Tiktok, and the most affected people are likely to be Indian users who have business or personal contact with Chinese people," Mo said, adding that these people might lose touch with their friends, business partners and relatives due to WeChat being banned in India.
One glimpse of Coimbatore Photo: Courtesy of Mo Xizhi
'How can I take care of my pregnant wife?'Just like his work, Mo's daily life has also been affected. Restrictions on imports, exports and logistics between India and China are more severe, and now some kinds of Chinese food seasoning have started to run out.
The most pressing problem for Mo is how to take care of his pregnant wife as his visa expired in March but the Indian government has not agreed to his application to renew the visa.
"I had already applied for a new visa at the Foreigner's Registration Office (FRRO) in India last October. They promised to issue a new visa to me before the end of March, but it was delayed after the outbreak of the pandemic."
In July, the FRRO suddenly gave him Exit Permission as his marriage certificate had not been notarized by consular officials. They asked him to leave India as soon as international airlines are open.
"My wife has been pregnant for five months and if I leave the country, no one can take care of her because her parents are still stuck in Ladakh, which means she has to handle everything before having our baby," Mo said.