Tag: india china trade war

World War III, would it be Democracy Vs Dictatorship?

The current scenario of world order is disturbed and tightly stressed in the midst of on-going epidemic, Corona Virus. A virus that originated in China has spread across the globe reaching almost every country. Many countries are pointing fingers at Communist Party of China (CPC) for delaying information regarding deadly virus outbreak. Some accusations even suggest that this particular virus had been intentionally developed by the Chinese in the wuhan laboratory of virology to rupture the global economy. All this has led to tensioned strings between China and the rest of the world, with only few countries in support of china. Nations among these few allies of china are North Korea, Pakistan, Turkey, Iran etc. The most important aspect drawing attention is that all of China’s allies are either dictatorship or partially democratic.

This leads to our conclusion for the title, world war 3 would definitely be a war between dictatorship and the democracy.

India’s Military Up-gradation

India has decided to order 12 more Su30MKI fighter jets that will be made at Nasik by HAL under Russian licence. This new order will add to the 272 fighters of the type already ordered by the Indian Air Force. The Su30MKI fleet is now the backbone of IAF and will continue to be so for the coming years. The Chinese air force, too, operates the Su30 fighters.

With more than 260 fighters in service, Su30MKI forms the bulk of IAF. Additional jets are still being manufactured by HAL at Nasik and production will continue for next 2-3 years. The Indian versions are different from other Su30s as they are tailored to the needs of IAF. The designated MKI for India, the India’s modified Su30MKI have advanced Israeli avionics and an electronic warfare system, making them different from the standard Su30. The Indian fighter Aircrafts also demonstrates Brahmos firing capabilities.While they all have standard Russian origin R73/77 missiles, the Indian version will now be equipped with the longer-range Astra, the beyond visual range air-to-air missile developed by India’s DRDO (Defence Research & Development Organisation). This adds an advanced new capability to the aircraft that has till now been hampered by limited range to take down air targets, compared to the western platforms. Though it’s beyond visual range combat ability is limited, at close quarters it has unbeatable capabilities. China operates two variants of Su30 but these aren’t as capable as the Indian versions. The restrictions on the use of Israeli and western subsystems is one of the major reasons. China had ordered 73 of the older MKK version and later added 24 of the MK2 version for its Navy. However, unlike the MKI, the Chinese version does not have thrust vectoring engines, making them less manoeuvrable and nimble than the Indian fighters. China did not manufacture Su30s domestically, but it copied the design to make two indigenous versions called J11 and J16. The J11, which is based on Su27 platform, is the backbone of PLAAF, with 346 of the type ordered. The more advanced version J16 is based on the Su30 platform and are at least 128 in the service. China has fitted the aircraft with indigenous weapons, including PL12 and PL15 air-to-air missiles.

Both India and China are engaged in setting up their armies at the Indo-China borders, more aggressively after the galwan, Ladakh incident of clash between PLA (people liberation of China) and Indian army. It is also observed that most of the world leaders are upset with China’s response and careless behaviour towards the spread of covid-19. If at any point war breaks between India & China, the world would divide into allies and enemies. Diplomatically the India’s relationship with the rest of the world, would leave China helpless during war.

Saying No To China, Could It Be A Tough Road For India?

What happened at Galwan valley of Indian Ladakh had raised tensions between India and China to all time high. The clash between Indian and Chinese forces led to nationwide outburst against China.

Fuelling this, there had been a sudden disagreement for buying any Chinese product or services. This is to make sure that Chinese economy doesn’t receive a single penny from India and its citizens, making it obvious after China bearing malice towards its neighbours, specifically India. The initiative has greatly boosted with GOI’s (Government of India) decision of banning 59 Chinese applications in India and by increasing the import taxes on Chinese goods or services. The Indian armed forces had already been deployed at disputed regions of border and are ready for any surprise from counter side.

With Governments and Armed forces holding tight on attempts to self-reliant India, the dice of responsibility falls our side too. By us I mean, all the common or less common citizens of India whose decision of just boycotting Chinese products could shatter its trade. Already many huge economies of the world have turned against China, amid Corona virus outbreak and deaths of 600,000 (still rising) innocent people.

Boycotting Chinese items won’t be that easy as it sounds, one has to spend a little more of their money while switching to non-chinese brands, as the only PSP (product selling protocol) of Chinese products is its cheap pricing. This pricing gets balanced with its poor quality and doesn’t last any longer. Yet, Chinese products have kept its dominance in certain sectors of Indian market.

The mobile phone sector

India had imported mobile phones worth $11.3 billion from China in 2016-17, and that was about 68 per cent of all mobile phones (both push-button feature phones and smart devices) imports into the nation that year. In 2017-18, even as the duties were imposed, the value of mobile phone imports from China climbed to $15.6 billion, or 71 per cent of the mobile phones imported. As the tax measure began to hurt and local manufacturing of mobile phones gathered momentum, imports of these devices from China halved to $7.4 billion and about 41 per cent of all mobile phone imports in 2018-19. Imports of phones, by value, from China declined further in 2019-20 but not the share, which remains at 40 per cent. If we just speak of alternatives, we have few options of some Korean, Taiwanese, American and just few Indian tech companies. These options are:

  • LG
  • Samsung
  • Nokia
  • Apple
  • Asus

The drop in electronic imports gradually implemented by the GOI in recent years but this won’t be enough and buyers need to push their expenses to continue supporting the campaign of #boycottchina.

Other imports from China include toys, gift items, fabrics and garments, and thousands of small value items that are popular with consumers. CAIT (Confederation of All India Traders) estimates that there are some 3,000 items that can be easily substituted with India-made products in the first phase of the boycott of Chinese goods campaign. The list of China-made items popular with consumers includes fairy lights with tiny LED bulbs that are used to decorate homes during festivals, idols of deities, home decors, kite strings and even incense sticks (agarbattis). It is estimated that about 80 per cent of the incense sticks sold in India are imported from China.

For all of it to happen, for this campaign to succeed we all should hold our horses and should maintain an adequate transition of market into indigenous domain. This would be the only secure and once for all time solution to problems India facing with the dragon as war could never be a solution. It would just tear up economies at both ends and loss of Brave Indian soldiers shouldn’t happen any further.