Chinese goods: continue to buy them or to boycott them

Today I got a video-forward on Whatsapp which was by a ladakhi fellow talking about the Chinese soldiers transgressing over to the Indian border in Ladakh and how, not just by military force can we thwart them but also by not buying Chinese goods and services. His logic was that by not buying the goods, the Chinese government will be de-funded and hence an average Indian citizen, like our soldiers, can fight this battle with China.

I realized that while most people would easily support this sentiment, few others, who try to use their rational faculties more than the others, would be confused about this. On one hand the argument is that there should be open trade among nations since goods and services are produced by people and not by the governments and on the other hand, the Chinese government (the Chinese Communist Party or the CCP) clearly uses this money to wage wars on us.

I think that it’s quite hypocritical for India to say that “we are free” while the Chinese are under an oppressed rule of the CCP. So if the CCP are not funded by taxes, we will be doing the right thing. The fact is that we aren’t free either and it is evident from various aspects of India — evident from the existence of draconian laws like the sedition law but even more so from “debating” if freedom-of-speech should be absolute (yes, I have had many such debates with people in India!). So no, we are not free either and the same argument that we are making against China can be made against us that the Indian government should be de-funded to bring it to its knees until people are free in India (I’ll support it any day).

However, even though the Indians are incapable of comprehending the idea of freedom and why it’s important, it is also true that India is a democratic country and hence there’s an opportunity to replace any government in a period of 5 years. This is not the case in China. It’s also true that India is a non-transgressor over international borders (can’t say the same about its transgression on the property rights of its citizens though).

Hence, there’s weight in what this ladakhi guy (in the video) is saying, that the revenue we provide to the CCP is what they are using to produce weapons that kill our soldiers and that stopping that revenue will greatly hurt them.

So I totally support this case of not buying Chinese goods and services but with the realization that it’s not the Chinese people but the CCP that is the real enemy. And once enough of the people act, all the best goods will start getting produced outside of China