The endless crackdowns on Chinese companies like smartphone brand Vivo underscore the view that India is becoming a “graveyard for foreign companies”, China’s state-run media Global Times has said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested three senior employees of Vivo’s India unit, including the interim CEO and CFO and a consultant, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

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The arrests came two months after the ED arrested a Vivo employee and three others in a case of alleged money laundering, charges that the company has denied.

“The unfair and discriminatory treatment of Chinese companies operating in India reflects that the Indian side keeps politicising economic issues,” Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute in Tsinghua University, told the Global Times.

India’s endless crackdowns on Chinese enterprises will only end up undermining bilateral economic and trade cooperation, according to the report.

“By sanctioning Chinese companies, India aims to kick down the ladder,” said Lou Chunhao, Executive Director at the Institute of South Asian Studies in the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

A Delhi court has sent the three arrested top executives of Vivo India to three-day ED custody.

The three accused — Vivo India interim CEO Hong Xuquan, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Harinder Dahiya, and consultant Hemant Munjal — will now be produced before the court on December 26, on expiry of their three-day ED custody.

The arrests were made in the case months after the four accused — Lava International MD Hari Om Rai, Chinese national Guangwen alias Andrew Kuang, and chartered accountants Nitin Garg and Rajan Malik — were arrested on October 10.

According to Lou, India’s continuous crackdown on Chinese companies is short-sighted, as the entry of Chinese smartphone producers makes a contribution to India’s smartphone industry’s development by increasing market competition and reducing costs.

“India has stepped up moves assaulting Chinese companies since 2020, such as banning more than 200 Chinese apps, launching so-called tax and anti-money laundering investigations into Chinese companies and heightening scrutiny of Chinese investments,” according to Dai Yonghong, Director at the Institute of Area and International Communication in Shenzhen University.

India’s unilateral and protectionist moves will also have a profound impact on China-India economic and trade ties, Dai added.

As the two largest developing countries in Asia, India and China should strengthen cooperation for win-win development, experts said.