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India can’t go ‘cold turkey’ on Chinese goods so trade keeps flourishing despite deep freeze in ties

onebyone

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India can’t go ‘cold turkey’ on Chinese goods so trade keeps flourishing despite deep freeze in ties
  • Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to promote self-reliance and reduce dependence on China for raw materials and components
  • But it’s going to take time, as India’s factories rely heavily on Chinese inputs to make finished products and medicines

Diplomatic relations between India and China have been in a deep freeze due to the ongoing
border stand-off in the Himalayas
, but two-way trade has continued to flourish.

According to the latest official figures, the value of India’s imports from China leapt more than 66 per cent year-on-year to US$27.66 billion between April and July. Part of the import spike was driven by pandemic-related medical purchases, but Ajay Sahai, director general of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), expects bilateral trade to stay strong.
“Our trade with China is happening,” Sahai said. “It’s business as usual. I’m not seeing any impact on the dynamics of business demand.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a BRICS summit. Photo: AP

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Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a BRICS summit. Photo: AP
 
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I've watched a recent documentary about shuttlecock making industry in India. The duck feather (used in shuttlecocks) are processed in India (from India's ducks), but they have to import the plastic bases (of shuttlecocks) from China.

Even with such a extremely simple product like shuttlecock, India still depends on China for parts, let alone more sophisticated like a bicycle, motorbikes or cars.

I know, Indian forumers here will blah blah non-stop that they can manufacture the base, but they do not want to do it, just because Chinese are cheaper. They will never accept the facts that India probably is never able to manufacture anything which requires a certain precision level at industrial scale and reasonable price (with their own tech and their own manpower), which are key for any country to industrialize. A country cannot say that we are capable to manufacture airplanes with tag price of 10 billions USS$ each, but we just do not want to do it.
 
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I had always assumed the opposite to be true. India exports raw materials to China and China makes finished products that are exported back to India. :undecided:
 
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India should be ashamed of being in this position. Govt should work to encourage industry to change this over the next 20-30 years. There are a billion of you and hundreds of millions more to come. Where will you all work?! You need a huge manufacturing base.
 
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India should be ashamed of being in this position. Govt should work to encourage industry to change this over the next 20-30 years. There are a billion of you and hundreds of millions more to come. Where will you all work?! You need a huge manufacturing base.
To begin with, they would've not been in this situation if they did agree to demarcate, and settle the border as is when Jiang Zemin offered them to. They just had to recognise China's border in Tibet (which they do anyways already.) Jiang was almost begging Rao, being ready to recognise the border even without a settlement on Tibet's status as such, leaving Tibet's border as a "mutually recognised LOC."

I read up on how the world this could've happened. It appears that Rao was already been seen as "too conciliatory" on China, and barred this from going forward to continue his political theatrics, so he can look "tough on China"
 
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It's a conundrum for India. The more it will decouple from China, the less China will hesitate from doling out it's next punishment.
 
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It's a conundrum for India. The more it will decouple from China, the less China will hesitate from doling out it's next punishment.
Trade is like one of the main thing restraining China from much more punitive action against India.
 
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