Why We Didn’t Think To Trade With China Earlier

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.