The real Chinese threat
I had first written on this topic in 2017, in the aftermath of the Doklam crisis, where Chinese and Indian forces were involved in a standoff, on disputed territory in the Doklam area. At a time when there was lot of Anti-China sentiment, India recorded its highest ever trade deficit with China. In 2020, another border standoff at Galwan, which lead to a serious clash, resulted in the first fatalities on both sides since 1967. Despite a lot of hysteria to boycott Chinese goods and making India `Aatmanirbhar’ or self-reliant, becoming a national priority in 2020, the year 2022-23 again saw a record trade deficit with China. While there is a lot of attention to India’s defence preparedness via-a-vis China, there is little understanding of how dangerous our imbalanced trade with China can be. In 2022-23 India has a trade deficit with China of US$ 101 Billion (plus US$ 12.2 billion with Hong Kong, which is a proxy for China). It is expected to be similar in 2023-24. That defici...