Oppo open to investing more overseas despite China tech backlash, smartphone brand’s president of global sales says

Name: India bans another 118 Chinese apps as border tensions escalate
Uploaded: 2020-10-21T21:00:10.000Z
Duration: 2 min 5 s
Description: India bans another 118 Chinese apps as border tensions escalate

Oppo may ramp up its investments in India despite a recent backlash against China technology in the South Asian country, its head of global sales says

The Chinese smartphone brand’s sales in India have not been affected much, vice-president Alen Wu tells the Post

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Oppo vice-president and its president of global sales Alen Wu speaks at an event. Photo: Handout

Celia Chenin Shenzhen

Published: 5:00am, 22 Oct 2020Updated: 4:15pm, 22 Oct 2020

A bitter border dispute between Chinese and Indian troops may have resulted in a backlash against Chinese technology and bans of more than a hundred apps in the South Asian nation, but Oppo’s head of global sales says the smartphone giant is still open to investing more in the world’s second-most populous country.

“To tell the truth, even though the border conflict has had a great impact on India, our sales there have not been affected much,” Oppo vice-president and its president of global sales Alen Wu told the Post in an exclusive interview last week.

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India bans another 118 Chinese apps as border tensions escalate

“We will still continue with the operation of our factories there, and may even continue ramping up our investments there in the future – India is, after all, a huge market.”

Wu’s comments signal optimism in the India market despite a rise in anti-China sentiment in the country due to the border conflict as well as the coronavirus pandemic.

In July, amid renewed calls to boycott Chinese products after 20 Indian soldiers and an undisclosed number of Chinese soldiers died in a clash in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley, Oppo cancelled the live-streamed launch of its flagship 5G smartphone in India, uploading a pre-recorded video on YouTube announcing the new smartphone instead.

Earlier that month, India’s Economic Times cited anonymous executives from Oppo and Vivo as saying the Chinese smartphone brands were putting their immediate manufacturing-related investments on hold given the uncertain business environment,.

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