A Fight Against China & Its Products

A total boycott — from apps to hardware.

A Quick Backstory

The world is in chaos right now. And India-China tensions have been added to the list.

Reports say that in early May, thousands of Chinese troops put up tents, dug trenches and moved heavy equipment several kilometres into the Galwan valley in Ladakh, which is regarded by India as its territory. This move by China came after India built a road several hundred kilometres long connecting to a high-altitude forward airbase which it reactivated in 2008. And India’s decision to augment infrastructure seems to have enraged China.

What Happened Now?

On 28 May, Sonam Wanghchuk, a renowned engineer, academician, innovator, environmentalist and also the man who inspired the character of ‘Fungsuk Wangdu’ in the movie ‘3 idiots’ said that Indians should play their part in supporting the army by boycotting Chinese products.

He asked people to completely boycott Chinese software within a week and Chinese hardware within a year. He said that China earns millions and millions of dollars from the Indian market by selling its products and it uses the same money to buy ammunition, arms, guns and uses them against India itself.

The Impact

• Wangchuk’s video has garnered millions of views across social media platforms.
• After his video went viral, #BoycottChina, #BoycottMadeinChina, #BoycottChineseApps and #BoycottTiktok began trending on social media.
• Google trends show that many Indians have been searching, “How to delete or remove Chinese apps” on Google.
• On top of this, app developers One Touch AppLaps have introduced an application called ‘Remove China Apps’. This app will delete all the Chinese apps on your phone and several people have shared screenshots on social media, showing that they have used the app. This app has more than 1 million downloads and thousands of positive reviews.

China’s Dominance

This might be hard to digest but the world is dependent on China for manufacturing and it all adds up to around half a trillion dollars in imports.

And this didn’t happen overnight. We all know that China has an enormous amount of human resources, which helped the country to become the hub for global manufacturing amongst other things.

What really helped China the most is the fact of how other countries opened their markets to China. However, China didn’t reciprocate this move. This was one of the major reasons why the U.S-China trade tensions flared up to an enormous extent in 2018. President Trump wanted China to open up its markets.

India is also one of the biggest importers of Chinese goods. At present, Chinese smartphone brands control 51% of India’s smartphone market, which is worth more than $8 billion. India is heavily dependent on China for meeting its solar equipment demand.

Who Wins The Fight?

To be honest, nobody. Many Indian sectors will be affected if Chinese goods are boycotted and it will cost thousands of jobs. Also, the trade deficit between India and China is around $56 billion. So, India should consider reducing its trade deficit with China, which is what will help us down the lane.

But on the bright side, the government’s idea to support local products as well as the protests will help Indians choose more products which are made locally and this will eventually support our country.

Even if China suffers, it wouldn’t be to the extent to which the other countries will suffer because China’s economic growth is mostly driven by domestic consumption as well as investment and not only by exports. Also, China’s exports will continue to reach other countries’ markets through Vietnam and Taiwan routes.

So, we have to wait and see how the Chinese government will respond to the ‘Boycott Chinese Products’ slogan but we hope that all of this gets resolved by talks between the two countries.

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