By Erick A few, plainly obvious reasons:
- Politics, mostly. Especially the border disputes.
- Language. Most Indians spoke English, few spoke Chinese. And few Chinese spoke English.
- Legacy ‘west leaning’ approach, thinking it was the democratic and capitalist model alignment.
- It is true that we tariff’d US made goods quite a bit.
- Before China became a tech behemoth, few Chinese exports fulfilled the needs of the Indian market.
Some things became obvious more recently:
- Foxconn was setup in India, making iPhone parts (you know, the American company that made most of its phones in China).
- Most phone brands available in India – and there are a LOT of them – are Chinese.
- ‘Made in China’ stopped being an indication of poor quality a few years ago.
- India matches the concentration of skill and labour with China.
What could change:
- More direct tech collaboration, especially in the areas of semiconductor, AI and space-tech.
- Common cross-border digital payment platforms, especially if the BRICS currency is adopted.
- Synergies in sharing of energy needs (e.g both India and China import LNG from Qatar).
- Joint defense drills, if the border dispute can be resolved.
At the very least, there aren’t enough Indian restaurants in China. Yet.
Also, bring back 2019 Indian cringe TikTok.