From Government to it's Citizens, everyone goes with "Boycott China".

“Boycott China”, “Boycott Chinese Products”, “Go Chinese Go” and so on are the topics which are trending all over the social networking sites. This happened after 20 Indian soldiers were killed by the Chinese troops on Monday evening during a face-off in the Galwan valley in eastern Ladakh. Since Monday, anti-China protests have broken out all over India, with effigies of the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, set alight. In Gujarat, there was footage of people throwing their Chinese-made televisions over their balconies.

Let's see how the government, as well as the general public, is boycotting Chinese products –

Government ending the contracts and asking officials to not to use Chinese products.

1. The public utility DFCCIL (Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India) said it was ending the Rs 471-crore contract "because of poor progress". Four years ago, the contract to build signals on a 417-km freight corridor was granted to the Beijing National Railway Research and Design Institute of Signal and Communication Group Co. Ltd. The DFCCIL, which is under the railway ministry, today said in four years, the Chinese company has been able to complete only 20 per cent of the project. At least four other Chinese firms, which are involved in various railways' projects, also stand to lose business.
2. Indian government officials said they plan to impose higher trade barriers and raise import duties on around 300 products from China. India currently has a $59.3bn (£47.7nb) trade deficit with China, with 11% of India’s imports coming from China.
3. The government, too, is seen as driving the sentiment against Chinese products. Yesterday, government sources said the Department of Telecom is set to "firmly tell" the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd not to use Chinese equipment in its 4G up-gradation because of security issues. Sources said the department has also decided to rework the tender in this regard.  The government is also considering asking private operators to reduce their dependence on equipment made by Chinese firms.
4. The Indian Telecom Ministry ordered government telecom providers and other private companies to ban all future Chinese deals and equipment upgrades. Chinese companies will also be banned from participating in tenders for future projects, which is likely to include plans to upgrade 4G services in India.

Boycotting the Chinese Smartphone.

Amid protests, Chinese handset maker Oppo has cancelled the Livestream launch of its flagship 5G smartphone in the country.

But when the traders were asked if they see any downfall in the sale of Chinese smartphones. Their answer was clear NO. They said Chinese smartphones are in very high demand because they are pocket friendly and durable.

Interestingly, four of the top five smartphone brands in India (Xiaomi, Vivo, Realme and Oppo) are from China and accounted for almost 76 per cent share of the 32.5 million smartphones shipped in India in the March 2020 quarter (according to IDC data).

South Korea's Samsung, which ranked third and cornered 15.6 per cent share of shipment in the said quarter, is the only non-Chinese firm in the top five tallies.

India is the second-largest smartphone market after China and clocked a shipment of 152.5 million smartphones in 2019.

"Boycott China" campaign started by Sonam Wangchuk.

Sonam Wangchuk, a pioneering Indian engineer and a prominent environmentalist who lives and works in Ladakh, has been at the forefront of calls for a boycott on China, in response to what he described as China’s “bullying” behaviour over recent years, where land used by local herdsman to graze goats in Ladakh has slowly been encroached on by Chinese forces.

He had started the slogans: ‘Boycott China', 'Boycott Made in China', 'Anywhere but China’ which is now finding an echo all across the country.

“If we just meet them with military force, that’s what China is looking for,” said Wangchuk. “We should do what they fear more, which is economic damage. India sends so much money … but we need to get ourselves out of this trap and call out China for what they are: a wolf, a rogue nation.”
Wangchuk said the campaign had already been more successful than he had ever anticipated. “Citizens can make a huge difference,” he said. “The same wallets that built China in the last 30 years can also bring them down.”

China is rattled by the "Boycott China" campaign.

China is rattled by the “boycott” Chinese products campaign in India, which had begun with prominent Ladakhi voices in the middle of the stand-off in eastern Ladakh, but has now cascaded into a wave of national anger after the killing of 20 Indian soldiers in clashes with Chinese troops in Galwan Valley on Monday.

The worry for Beijing has increased as Indians have started cancelling their bookings with the companies allied with Chinese counterparts. This sentiment among Indians has grown as body bags and the graphic description of the violent clashes—with rocks and batons wrapped with barbed wire—has injured their national pride.

Calls for a boycott of Chinese goods, technology and investment have been growing in India since early May, when Chinese troops began to build up in disputed territory in Ladakh, and violent skirmishes and stand-offs occurred between troops on the ground. An Indian-built program that helps users identify and delete Chinese apps on their phones was downloaded more than 5m times in May before it was blocked by Google.

The clash at Ladakh's Galwan Valley area took place on Monday evening as an Indian patrol party tried to remove a Chinese tent. The fight started after the Chinese soldiers targeted Colonel BL Santosh Babu, who was commanding the patrol party. Both sides were armed with batons and rods with nails. Several soldiers fell into the river during the clash.

Written By Radhika Bansal, She is doing her Masters in Journalism and Mass Communication from Amity University, Noida. She is interested in covering political and humanitarian issues.

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