(cont)
The epidemic has created a huge gap in India's economic growth, and the weak manufacturing industry has been a long-term problem for the country. India previously purchased a large number of hospital disinfection facilities, virus detection reagents and other products from overseas markets. Its local medical material manufacturers are far from enough to meet the soaring needs during the epidemic.
Unlike China which has become a manufacturing powerhouse, a lack of manufacturing capacity has long been a structural weak point in India's economy. The weakness is highlighted by the epidemic, and the gap between India's and China's manufacturing capabilities have made China a key source of support for India to maintain its economic operations.
China overtook the US as India's biggest trade partner in 2020, but despite an increase in bilateral trade, there is a significant asymmetry in the China-India trade relationship. India relies heavily on China's exports, far exceeding the extent of China's dependence on India.
Most of India's imports are from China. In 2020, $58.7 billion worth of goods were imported from China to India, more than the total Indian imports from the US and Saudi Arabia. In contrast, India ranks 16th among China's trade partners, and trade with India represents only 1.88 percent of China's total foreign trade.
Due to its lack of industries, most of India's imports from China are manufactured products which are key to its many economic activities, including electrical machinery and equipment. In 2020, India imported $17.82 billion in machinery, the biggest category of its imports.
Analysts said the lack of a manufacturing capacity has made India a key beneficiary of China's manufacturing power. India's economy integrates into the world economy mostly with service industries such as software outsourcing, but lacks a manufacturing foundation, which is a fatal flaw during the epidemic.
"China is willing to cooperate with India through multiple channels in helping it fight the epidemic, and we believe India can conquer it," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in April.
Help vs criticism
On Tuesday, the Indian government announced that the number of new deaths in a single day hit a new high to 4,329, and the number of new confirmed cases was 263,533. Although the terrible record of keeping more than 300,000 new cases in India for 25 consecutive days ended on May 17, the situation remains grim.
The pressure of India's epidemic prevention can be imagined, but some Indian media have been watching China closely, as if the country's crisis was partly caused by China.
The Times of India claimed that China controls the export of raw materials to India, which caused the price of new crown-related drugs in India to soar. In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Priyanka Chauhan, India's consul-general to Hong Kong, called on China to help stop surging prices and increase cargo flights to get urgently needed supplies to the epidemic-ravaged country.
Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times on Wednesday that due to changes in China-India relations, Indian media representing the elites have been critical of China in recent years. "This will not change even though China is actively exporting anti-epidemic materials to India."
In the face of criticisms from India, the Chinese government has still continued its efforts to help the country.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said that in April, China exported more than 26,000 ventilators and oxygen generators, more than 15,000 monitors, and nearly 3,800 tons of medical materials and medicines to India.
"Under the epidemic, no country can survive the epidemic alone," Qian said. "As India's neighbor, China never seeks reciprocation when helping India. It is China's big-picture thinking, and is in drastic contrast with the prejudice held by some Indian politicians and media against China."
Global Times may not be everyone's favourite news media. But kudos to them for yet another good work of investigative journalism. I know, GT is be biased as hell towards China and the CPC. But I'll take their word anytime over any Indian news media. The gap in credibility between them is massive.
How dare does Priyanka Chauhan, India's consul-general to Hong Kong, calls on China to stop surging prices and increase cargo flights to India? Well I would just say to her: "Do not ask for the impossible"; with two middle fingers shown to her face..
China's humanitarian efforts to help India out will ultimately be a thankless job. Apart from a handful of Indians, the rest wouldn't give any credit to China. Instead of telling the truth and thanking China, the MSM in India talks about China price gouging, blocking shipments, and Wuhan lab bioweapon conspiracies. I'm betting that when this epidemic disaster is over for India, they are gonna go back to pissing on China. More Quad activities, more boycott of China, more saber-rattling at China, maybe more provocations at the border. To the Jai Hinds, China's humanitarian help either never happened, or they think that China is subservient to them. If its up to me, India will get nothing until its leaders grovel and apologize before China.
Covid-19 exposes yet again the hollow promise of India to take over China as the new "factory of the world". Even back in 2015, I had a gut feeling that India's development was too focused on the service economy than on its industrial economy. A look at Japan, and all the Asian Tigers revealed that all these great economies start with a manufacturing economy, then would slowly transition to the service economy. Even Singapore, Taiwan, and HK had started out with manufacturing economies before any of their banks and skyscrapers showed up. India OTOH mostly skipped past that industrial economy phase, and dived straight into the services economy. Maybe because of "Indians can speak Inglish"? Well, that is a recipe for stagnation. Manufacturing and and exports create wealth. Wealth creates disposable income. Then new banks, restaurants, and IT companies get businesses from that growth of wealth? What's the point Jai Hinds celebrating Indian CEOs in the West? To me, most of these Indian CEOs don't create wealth for the masses. They create wealth only for the shareholders. They are all essentially parasites.
India from 2019-2021 have confirmed all of my suspicions that India's potential to rival China is all a big sham. All that India superpowah numba one by 20** is BS as f**k! What does India have to potentially rival and overtake China?
1) Manufacturing industry? Nope!
2) IT industry? Somewhat. But thanks to Trump, Chinese companies are developing their own hardware, software, apps, and OSes. India? Nothing close!
3) Pharma industry? Only until 2020 at most. China can rapidly close the gap. And it has proven in 2021 that it will take over India's soon-to-be-lost title of 'pharmacy of the world'.
4) Finance and banking? LOL! Give me a break!
5) Entertainment? Yeah no doubt India has Bollywood. But China had already overtaken the US as the biggest blockbuster market in 2020. Chances are, its entertainment industry will follow suit.
6) Space? Its 2021 already, and India has yet to send a man (not even a monkey) into space! Even Iran had sent a monkey into space.
7) Military? LOL! Paper elephant! Can't even scare Pakistan, don't talk about China.
8) Holy Cow? Oh yeah, for sure. India is the undisputed champion here. No one but India is interested to get its hands dirty for the Holy Cow.
