At times, push needs to come to a shove before an individual comes to his/her senses and attempts a course correction. This is an appropriate analogy to describe India’s actions when faced with the threat of a conflict with an increasingly hostile China. But for the Chinese shove, a rather rude one at that, it was quite possible that neither would have India woken up to its exposure to China, in various fields, nor would it have attempted a course correction—such is the bureaucratic sloth, and even corruption, in this country. From realising the need to ban Chinese apps to giving a big push towards indigenous defence production, these have been “learning times” for the country and its government. But indigenous production will take time and is a long-term plan to reduce India’s dependence on imported defence equipment and to build an export market for itself. But when a conflict appears imminent, it is a bit unsettling to see the rush to buy fighter jets, air defence shields, arms and other armaments. It is unsettling because it paints a sorry picture of one of the world’s largest militaries having fallen short of critical equipment, which need not have been the case but for successive governments not giving defence the priority they should have given. This happens when bureaucrats have too much say over matters of the military. However, it must be mentioned here that a lot has changed ever since Narendra Modi has come to power—from cleaning up corruption in defence purchase to the formation of a unified command with the appointment of a Chief of Defence Staff. In fact what is needed now is lessening India’s dependence on Russian platforms, primarily because of the axis between China, Russia and Pakistan, which is bound to lead to leakage of information and data to India’s enemies, namely, China and Pakistan. It will also hurt India’s strategic interests especially when it comes to the Quad and the Indo-Pacific region. There is no doubt that under Prime Minister Modi diversification of the country of origin of defence imports has picked up pace, even then making purchases such as the Russian S-400 missile system sends out a wrong signal, especially when China too has the same system. According to media reports, China has deployed some of its S-400s near the LAC. How does it help when India has the same system that its enemy has—maybe a slightly advanced version—when India’s deterrence capability has to be directed at that same enemy? As for the 59 Chinese apps that were banned, it’s hoped that this is just the beginning. The banning of such data gathering tools that spy on Indian citizens and pass on information to China was long overdue. Also, China needs to pay an economic cost for its transgressions.
Mention also must be made of one of the positive fallouts of the ban: the expected rise of Indian apps that will fill the vacuum left particularly by TikTok. Already there is a rush to download indigenous apps and it is hoped that this ban will go a long way in nudging the Indian IT sector towards research and development and some actual innovation, which has been lacking as the focus has been on growing as a service industry and not as an innovation industry. Indian scientists have performed miracles whenever the world, the West in particular, has blocked India from accessing technology from abroad. There is no reason why India’s software engineers cannot do the same. In this case, a huge market is being given to the Indian software sector on a platter. This is the time for industry bigwigs to utilise this major opportunity. The other sector that needs to be decoupled from China is telecom. There has to be a clear message: Huawei will not be allowed to participate in the 5G trials, however much the move may anger China. It’s too risky to have the Chinese control 5G rollout in India. Let China look after its own interests. It is not India’s job to look after China’s interests. Another point that must be made here is, even if any de-escalation takes place and status quo ante is restored—looks unlikely at this point in time—that will not be reason enough to undo the steps being taken. As long as China exists in its present form, it will never be business as usual with China. The Asian Century, with India and China as partners, is a chimera, however well-intentioned India might be. Communist China will not change its spots. India needs to accept that and carve out its own path.