Is it possible to boycott China? Chinese Marketing Strategy, Swadeshi First

So, in today’s article, we will find out about how Chinese companies make electronic devices at such cheap prices, their marketing strategy, deleting Chinese apps, a bit on import-export, Swadeshi First initiative, and many more. So, the question remains is it possible to boycott China? If you want to know, how China emerged as a global manufacturer or an industry hub? Click here.

Before starting this article, let me tell you one interesting fact about boycott China and Chinese products campaign; boycott Chinese products runs in India almost every year also several times in a year. But, how effective is it? I guess I don’t need to explain much about this because people end up buying more and more Chinese products each year. The Problem is we Indians tend to forget a lot, moreover, we ignore it.

Import-Export

India is a large market for Chinese goods but not the largest. India accounts for 3% of China’s exports which was valued at $75 billion in the year 2019. Whereas, India exports goods to China which is worth $17 billion which accounts for 5.3% of India’s total export in 2019. India imports nearly seven times more from China than it exports to it.

India imports smartphones and automobiles, telecom equipment, plastic and metallic goods, electrical machinery, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), and other chemicals and more from China. China imports cotton, fabrics, metals, minerals and oil, and many more from India.

Consumer Electronics

Consumer Electronics plays a major role in India’s imports from China. Goods like mobile phones, power banks, trimmers, and many more are sold in India by brands like Huawei, Xiaomi, Realme, Vivo, Oppo, Oneplus, and many more. They are sold mainly based on the marketing and worth of the products. There is even a probability that you are using one of the phones from the Chinese brand because 7 out of 10 mobiles sold in India are Chinese brands.

Marketing Strategy

Chinese companies have very good marketing strategies in India. For instance, there was a recent hashtag trend on Twitter #BoycottMadeInChina after Sonam Wangchuck’s video which was trending on top 1. But, what Xiaomi did is they started a new hashtag called #ILoveXiaomi campaign through which 100 mobiles were sold for free whoever tags Xiaomi and uses that hashtag. To my surprise, this hashtag even took over the #BoycottMadeInChina, and interestingly many people even fell for it by tagging Xiaomi. This is the kind of marketing strategy they use in India. Because they think that Indian’s will do anything for free.

Manu Jain head of Xiaomi India recently said that there may be an anti-China sentiment among people, expecting things to normalize over time. “People are angry and upset and would want to blame someone, but it may not impact business much”. He even proved his sentence.

Pharma Sector

India’s pharmaceutical sector is dependent on China for drug manufacturing. In 2018-19, China supplied over 80 percent of the antibiotics to India.

Telecom Sector

India is heavily dependent on China in the telecom sector. But, recently the Government of India has canceled importing of telecom equipment for BSNL and MTNL also urged the same with private players in telecom. The government is also planning to cancel the testing of 5G developed by Huawei, as Huawei was set to roll out 5G in India soon.

Power Sector

India is dependent on China for renewable energy equipment. The value of solar cells/photovoltaic cells imported from China were $3.41 billion in 2017-18.

Boycotting Chinese Products

So, you might already know that boycotting Chinese products is not an easy job. They are almost everywhere. Here are a few interesting snippets about Chinese products:

Snippets

• Xi’an Aircraft Industrial Corp. is a Chinese company, which is a key supplier of components to Boeing, whose 737 Max and 747 aircraft are part of the Indian airline fleet.
• India buys S-400 missile systems from Russia, the electronics used in it are still Chinese.
• MG Motors which is marketed as a British company is owned by a Chinese company called SAIC. MG Motors was found in the 1920s and sold to Chinese in 2007.
• Few years back Government of India banned using Chinese apps to the Indian Army posted on the border due to data breach of location, data, honeytrap, and more.
• A few years back, 70% of the world’s umbrellas were made in China.
• A few years back, 60% of the world’s buttons were made in China.
• Out of the leading 500 brands in the world, 400 acquire manufacturing services from Chinese manufacturing companies.
• 41% of the world’s computer export is from China.
• 34% of the world’s Air Conditioner export is from China.
• 70% of the world’s mobile production is from China.

Boycotting Chinese Products

So, boycotting everything is not easy. And you already know that several big Indian companies and start-ups are invested by Chinese. To know the reason behind their investment click here. But, if we start now, we could be Atmanirbhar in the near future. We cannot even depend upon other countries thinking that they will move their manufacturing hub from China to India, which I have already written an article regarding this. To read click here.

Recently, the Government of India banned 59 apps due to the data concern. Because the intelligence report says that these apps collect the data of users on Chinese servers. Even the Zoom video conference app which is from the U.S., owned by Chinese-American is said to store its data on Chinese servers, here is a detailed article on the Zoom video conference app.

From the above facts, you might have known that boycotting is not easy. But, what we can do is we can purchase or develop new products of Indian origin. Of course, it won’t happen overnight, it will take time. But, at least we can start.

THE SECRET OF GETTING AHEAD IS GETTING STARTED

MARK TWAIN

Swadeshi First

So, to boost Atmanirbhar, an initiative called Swadeshi First has been launched by Anshul Saxena; where he is promoting Indian products from small scale to large scale.

Here is a list of products which are Made in India:

To know more about this Swadeshi First, watch the video given below which is very bold and inspiring.

Wars of China

If you want to know about Chinese Propaganda, their past, their rise, their future plans, the Communist Party of China, how they plan to conquer the whole world, cyber-attacks, drug cartel, leftist-liberal ideas, military, oil mafia, media, terrorism, and much more propaganda. I would definitely recommend you to watch this video called WARS OF CHINA, which is made by the director Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri who is known for his famous movies like The Tashkent Files. He has given some interesting insights into China and their propaganda which will blow your mind.

Even Sonam Wangchuck an Indian engineer, innovator, and education reformist has spoken about the recent developments of China. I recommend you to watch his insights on China and how to Boycott Chinese Products.

So, the question remains is it possible to boycott China? It is very difficult to boycott China but we have to start from somewhere as it is a long-term process. Every individual must take an initiative to make India grow and not just be Atmanirbhar but, also to supply the produced globally.

Thank you for reading this and I hope to see you in the next one.