China’s Xiaomi in muddle with Sino-Indian ‘controversial’ map

Ambitious Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has raised eyebrows back home with a map they used for the India launch of the Mi 4 handset in which it pencilled in disputed territories between the two countries within India’s borders.

Chinese website Lienew said fans back home have been angered by a power-point presentation by Xiaomi which showed parts of Arunachal Pradesh and a disputed area along India and China’s Himalayan border as Indian Territory. This goes against China’s claims.

The company, which manufactures high-end devices and sells them at low cost, sees India as a valuable market for its rapid growth. However, at a recent handset launch in India, Hugo Barra, Global VP for Xiaomi, stepped on China’s toes due to the disputed map he used in a PowerPoint slide. The event was for the flagship smartphone Mi 4, which was held in Delhi on January 28, 2015.

At the event, the slide mentioned that India is hugely important for Xiaomi and they were here to stay. Hugo posted the presentation on Weibo, a Chinese micro blogging website. Chinese fans who spotted the post took it a bit too seriously, after which Hugo took down the post. The post, in which Hugo Barra is spotted standing in front of a slide, shows the map of India and China, which started the issue. Fans at home said the Chinese company was going against the country in order to gain business and customers overseas.

The Chinese tech giant has been into controversial zones pretty often, especially here in India. The Indian Air Force alerted their staff after reports that Xiaomi handsets were leaking user data to their servers back in China.

The Chinese manufacturer also ran aground when Ericsson managed to get the Mediatek-based handsets banned in India.

The Chinese smartphone company is one of the most valued start-up companies in the world and is ambitious about the Indian market, where it expects to do well.