Script of child labour

With the ties between China and India already under strain since China in June bl
ocked Indias entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which would give India a big
ger role in nuclear commerce, this cocktail of adversarial moves by China has cr
eated the perfect storm of anti-Chinese sentiment in India. The most visible sig
n of the rage is evident in the growing social media campaign to boycott Chinese
goods. #BoycottChinaProduct [sic] and #BoycottChineseGoods have attracted thous
ands of tweets, including several leaders from Modis Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
. The campaign comes during the Diwali season, when people in many parts of Indi
a exchange gifts. Most of these gift items, and increasingly Diwali crackers, no
w come from China.
As Indias largest trading partner, shutting out China from the economy, however,
is not feasible. Especially since the government itself has no intention of slow
ing down the growing economic interaction. At the fourth India-China Strategic E
conomic Dialogue this month, the two sides agreed to cooperate in fields ranging
from energy and railway to coastal manufacturing zones.
An influential section of the government, in fact, wants deeper engagement with
China, posing a difficult balancing act for Modi between economic prudence and p
ublic opinion. While Modi understands the need for Chinese investment which has
grown 400 per cent in two years and Chinese market access, China is looking to p
lay a bigger role in the prized Indian market as its own slows down.