With Chinese economy already sliding on a slow note, India can give it another reason to worry by limiting the market for Chinese products
Prerna Kumari
It has been truly said that “Friends can be chosen but not neighbours”. Now India is somehow facing some grave challenges from its neighbours, especially in the west and the north. The challenge is bigger from the north because of China’s expansionist overtones with huge economic and technological advancement. Despite this, India has never compromised on its dignity and security. Each and every provocation by China has been answered suitably but in the recent standoff between Indian and Chinese armies in the Doklam area of Sikkim, India has responded with unprecedented rigidity. This has forced India, China and the world in-general to rethink on the future of ties between the two Asian giants.
Indians are eager enough to teach China a lesson this time, but both sides know it well that war is no solution to the problem. It’s not only going to hamper the growth of the two world’s fastest growing economies but the consequences can turn out to be devastating. So, what is the way out to restrict China in its limits? The popular demand is to pressurise China economically and how—by boycotting Chinese products in India. Social media today, is abuzz with such demands and this has built a common perception among Indians that this strategy will work. Let’s analyse.
To understand this, let’s have a look at the trade statistics between India and China. China is among India’s biggest bilateral trade partners, the volume of transaction being worth more than $70 billion. The same data with China’s all-weather friend Pakistan is a mere $ 12 billion. But the high value trade between India and China is nothing to boast of as the balance of trade is massively against India. India’s export amounting to only around $8 billion where as it imports Chinese goods worth over $60 billion. This highly skewed trade graph proves that China is getting a healthy market in India to export its goods where as India has failed to reciprocate the same. But here lies the punch. With Chinese economy already sliding on a slow note, India can give it another reason to worry by limiting the market for Chinese products. This will also be in sync with the Government’s “Make in India” initiative as it is difficult for Indian products to compete with cheap Chinese goods like toys, mobile phones, gadgets etc.
India has every right to do this. China has come out in open to harm our interests, that too, not once but thrice in recent times. Besides boarder stand-offs, it has stonewalled entry of India into NSG and thwarted every attempt to get Masood Azhar declared as International terrorist in UN. Then the plain question to China can be that why should India support Chinese economy to surge when it is aggressively working against Indian interests? These are the reasons that the second time a serious call within a span of two years has gathered momentum on social media to boycott Chinese products. Now one may ask that why it is required by the common citizen to boycott, why the government itself doesn’t bans the entry of Chinese product. Doesn’t the government understands this fact or is it simply not interested in pressurising China? The matter of fact is that the Government is somehow abided by WTO guidelines which don’t allow it to put a blanket ban on Chinese products. Even if it tries to impose anti-dumping duties, it needs to prove the dumping. But a counter view says that any country is free to use the tools it feels, is required to safeguard its interests. This is what China itself has done with countries like South Korea and Mongolia. In fact, China had imposed selective ban on products from South Korea and restricted the movement of Mongolian trucks carrying coal from crossing the Chinese border. So, if China has the right to protect its national interests by banning other countries, why India hasn’t? At least Indian government can officially work with China to counter the heavily tilted trade imbalance which is presently favoring China.
However, to deal with China economically, there is a contradictory view point as well. Since, there are certain restrictions on India to ban Chinese products completely; another option is to deepen the economic engagement with China. Last decade has seen a number of Chinese firms investing huge money in India for their projects; these investments can be encouraged because the more Chinese companies stay invested in India, the lesser will be the possibility of China harming Indian interests, especially when it comes to the threat of a full-fledged war or joining hands with Pakistan in case of a war. After all India and China—both countries are mature enough to give their economic development priority over something as wasteful and devastating as a war.
To summarise, pressurising China economically, is always a better option for country like India, which it can do either by reducing the imports and improving the trade-balance with China or by linking the interest of Chinese economy with that of Indian. However, it doesn’t mean India should not prepare on strategic front. Besides, improving its defence preparedness, India should also work in close cooperation with Asian countries like Japan and Vietnam, who have been equal sufferer of aggressive Chinese expansionism.
(The writer is a lawyer in Supreme Court)
