Boycotting Chinese goods is a myth

There is a lot of ongoing campaign on social media for boyotting the Chinese goods in India, reeking with patriotism. It would supposedly make the recalcitrant Chinese bend their knees and mend their ways. 

Not so fast. One is free to boycott the Chinese made goods if one wants to. After all, unlike them we are a democracy and a free country. But it is going to hardly make any dent on the gargantuan Chinese economy - for our share amounts to only 2% of the Middle Kingdom's total global trade. Not to mention we are a signatory to WTO and a nation wide boycott won't be in our interest. It can very well backfire, nothing short of committing economic harakiri.

Moreover, China's GDP is at least 4 times the size of India's. It's Forex reserves at near $4 trillion is more than 10 times of India's $380 billion. We are not even close.

The best way to cope with an increasingly belligerent China is formulating both short term and long term policies. On the short term - the incumbent government has done a pretty decent job so far doing some no nonsense diplomacy, blowing both hot and cold in all fronts.

On the long term - we have a long road ahead and a long list of things to do. We need to improve our infrasturcure to make it global standard, revamp our archaic Labor laws, make "Make in India" viable and get more competitive in the iternational market. At the same time we need continue our aggressive diplomacy via building some economic muscle to flex.

The best example is to take a look at another nation, South Korea. The Hermit Kingdom's products e.g. Samsung, LG, Hyundai and Kia have gone global. I just bought a Hyundai Hybrid car which runs with an outstanding milage, giving its other counterparts run for money in a highly competitive market segment.

On the other hand, I haven't heard of any similar campaign going on the social media in China to boycott Indian goods. So, rather than wasting time on this boycotting crap, let's be a challenger to the Chinese in the global market. Not just as another emerging market, but as a worthy competitor, a la Japan and South Korea. We can then be in a position to boycott their goods to our heart's content. Till then...