The anti-China movement has penetrated the massive country of India. In response to the military action that broke out at the border, 1.4 billion people of India began to boycott Chinese goods in extreme manners. For instance, people in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad hurled Chinese television sets from their balconies and smashed them with hammers. However, China has reacted in an unprecedented way to the situation, almost admitting its defeat helplessly. With India being the second most populated country in the world, the global economy is keeping an eye on the current situation, to see whether China will be able to survive the crisis or not. In addition, forecasts such as whether India will be the new world’s factory replacing Made in China or not is gathering the interests of many investors.

The unsolved territorial conflict was brought up again between the Chinese and the Indian border on June 15. Approximately 600 unarmed military soldiers from the two countries collided on the military border at Galwan along the Himalayan valley, leading to twenty casualties on the Indian army side. The incident prompted Indians to go for a Chinese antipathy movement and people gathered in the streets to destroy Made in China products. Large stores, as well as traditional markets, declared boycotts and proposed, “We won't sell any Chinese products after we deal with our remaining inventory,” according to Al Jazeera, a Qatari television news channel.

The painful scramble for a firm border between these two lands has not ended since 1962. Praveen Khandelwal, a member of the Confederation of All India Traders, asserts that “spending money on Chinese products is ultimately going to hit the country because China will use that money … to put its forces against Indian (military) forces.” This clearly shows that Indians have always seen Chinese as a combative threat. Nevertheless, China has been India’s second-largest trade partner for several years, but the prospect that India may become a self-sustaining industrial country is drawing the attention of many.

India Withdraws from Chinese Applications

The tension between these two countries has reached its peak when the Ministry of Information Technology of the Government of India has officially announced a ban against 59 Chinese mobile applications. These included TikTok, Shareit, WeChat, UC News, Bigo Live, and more according to CNN-News18, an Indian English-language news channel. Along with suspicions from the United States (U.S.) that these apps extract user information from their mobile phones without permission, India was the first to take strong measures against them. This act was done under section 69A of the Information Technology Act that concerns the “security, integrity and defense of India,” claimed CNN-News 18.

Such limits have brought about massive financial damage to China, as Financial News says, and may lead to a significant 15 percent loss of TikTok users. Therefore, the spark from a chronic border conflict can now cause notable side effects to the world’s factory in global means. “It is really unfortunate for Beijing to be distracted by the dangerous border stand-off with India when it needs to focus on the free-falling China-US relations as part of a multi-front crisis diplomatically and economically,” Pang Zhongying, an international affairs analyst at Ocean University of China, said in his interview with the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

What is the Alternative to Chinese goods?

One of the most significant impacts India has faced almost immediately was in the electronics industry. The first problem was regarding the mobile phone market. Recently, the latest model of the Chinese smartphone OnePlus “was sold out online within minutes of its Indian launch,” claimed Al Jazeera. In addition, four of the top five most traded mobile phone brands in India were Chinese, including Xiao mi, Vivo, Oppo, and Realme. Experts suggest that it would be hard for India to be fully autonomous in terms of electronics manufacturing in the near future, and it may simply cause other premium-priced brands such as LG Electronics, Samsung and Apple to penetrate the market. According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), this could eventually lead to a larger chasm between wealth and poverty.

Moreover, the problem is not only in terms of finished goods, but also regarding the internal minute units in most everyday items. B. Thiagrajan, an Indian manufacturer of air conditioners, showed concern by saying, “Most players across the globe import key components such as compressors from China,” clearly emphasizing the solid establishment of Chinese companies within India. It is quite obvious, BBC continues, that most electronics industries in India will be paralyzed if they permanently ban the import of crucial intermediate goods from China.

Boycott Equals Blessing in Disguise

On the other hand, many investors and economists view this disaster as a chance for India to have a restart with its fundamental industrial dilemma. With India depending heavily on Chinese internal components, it has so far been almost impossible to fully replace those with Indian or other foreign components. However, referring to positive changes of boycott actions around the globe – South Korea has successfully replaced liquid hydrogen fluoride importation with domestic production after the “No, Japan Boycott” – India certainly got its opportunity to renew the factory baseline to domestic products.

Also, from the perspective of related electronics businesses, the movement has become a great chance to penetrate the humungous Indian market. As mentioned before, for instance, LG Electronics achieved a massive increase in sales in the Indian mobile trades, selling ten times as much as the previous amount after the action took place in the mainland. Also, the company plans to promote more low-cost to high-end phones in the second half of the year, maintaining its existing slogan of “India specific and India first.” Likewise, Yonhap News and several foreign media look forward to ruling out the Chinese monopoly in the industries if such boycott continues in the long term.

The two populated lands have never come to such complex conflict in history. India is undoubtedly showing insubordination at its major import route, while China struggles to act any harsher concerning a further maneuver from the second largest country. Although authorities doubt whether India can be absolutely self-sufficient, Indian citizens continue to avoid Chinese goods as much as possible. What third party countries could do now is either hope for a new world’s factory or watch India lose the game in despair.