The rise of the economies of China and India has partly changed the face of Asia. The rising political influence and the distinctive diplomatic voice in world affairs has made both India and China, countries to reckon with. But the irony is that India is ruled through democratic institutions while China has experienced the dictatorship of the proletariat and is a communist state. For an average Indian, China depicts a State that is ruled with an iron hand where only one child per family is allowed, the carnage at the famous Tiananmen Square, a land which supplies sophisticated toys (though some are toxic) to the world at moderately cheap prices, the birthplace of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) due to the weird meat eating habits of certain sections of the Chinese and above all the fiasco of Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai in 1962, that was re-enacted in 2008 when China tried to block the entry of India in the NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group) in Vienna. Recently, of course, the Olympic show put up by the Chinese has impressed India and the whole world as their venues, stadiums, fireworks and general showmanship and the actual gold medals won by China was a monumental achievement. Even the recent manned mission in outer space and the space walk makes us proud of China, our neighbor in Asia.

Indians think that the Chinese leaders are not flexible in introducing political reforms. Attempts made by students towards democracy, have hitherto been crushed and thousands of young Chinese were massacred under orders from Deng at Tiananmen Square, when they clamoured for political liberalization and reforms. Before that the Chinese suffered during the time of the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward. Mao Tse-Tung rule of terror and economic paralysis was followed by Deng Xiaoping, who was a moderate and strengthened Chinese ties with the West and introduced economic reforms. But China has improved and developed through pragmatic means. The Chinese violated human rights when they decreed that married couples could have only one child. And the tendency to have a male child, which is universal, took a toll on female foetuses.

Chinese economy rides high on many finished products as the labour is cheap, just like India. But “made in China” goods and products have left an indelible imprint on the sands of time as these goods lead to injuries, illnesses and sometimes even death. Some of the products under the scanner are dried apples preserved in carcinogens, frozen catfish laden with banned antibiotics, scallops and sardines coated with bacteria, mushrooms sprayed with illegal pesticides, tainted diet supplements and pet food, cosmetics full of impurities, Big Birds and Elmos coated in lead paint, blankets steeped in formaldehyde, flammable children’s pyjamas and dirty disposable chopsticks. The list is unending but at the same time the retailers and the manufacturers in the West have a hand in it as they are sacrificing the health of the people on the altar of making these dubious profits. After a few fatal mishaps in the West the governments of the United States and Canada have appointed inspectors to check these products before they enter the market. 

Inspite of the above dubious record, recently, thousands of babies in China got affected by the adulterated milk, powder milk and liquid milk, which contained melamine. Hence this tainted milk and other dairy products from China are banned by European Union countries and also by Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Kenya and many others. Even WHO and UNICEF have expressed concern.

There are other products where we have started competing with the Chinese makes, like suitcases. In the last few months industry houses have started cutting down on importing certain articles from China as our prices are almost on level. This is because the Chinese government has started hiving off export subsidies. Another important factor is the increase in labour costs. Nirmal Menon reporting in Mumbai Mirror says “that according to industry body Assocham, India’s imports from China in silk, silk yarn and fabric had begun to decrease from 2005-2006 onwards. Silk imports alone had declined by 13 per cent from $233 million in 2005 to $203 million in 2006”.

Indians are very wary of Chinese food products specially meats as the Chinese eat varied animal meat and in some backward areas they consume meat that gives rise to SARS, a highly contagious illness that responds to modern antibiotics with great difficulty. This SARS unless diagnosed in time leads to certain death. In 2003, this Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome spread to many parts of the world like Canada, Hong Kong, and even in United States of America. Cathay Pacific airlines and some other carriers suffered losses as no one travelled to the East. I happened to travel from Vancouver to Mumbai via Hong Kong at the height of this epidemic and this highly populated Chinese city was like a ghost town. 

Indians generally, avoid eating non-vegetarian dishes when they go to China, especially because some meat they eat is not palatable to us, though it is a great delicacy there. Pizza Huts are especially under our scanner as we don’t know what is served on the assorted pizzas. Regarding fish the plus point is that they kill the fish in front of you in the aquarium and weigh it, once you have decided to buy the particular fish. I bought fish in Hong Kong when I visited my daughter in the Kowloon province where she was stationed when she worked for Cathay Pacific. But the irony is that Chinese food innovated with less spices is very popular in India and the Indian Chinese dishes like American Chopsuey, Hakka Noodles, Manchurian Chicken and many more form the menu in restaurants and hotels run by the Chinese, sometimes with the collaboration of Indian partners. And the business is always good, specially in cities,where working couples have no time to cook and prefer variety.

When it comes to diplomacy, India has always kept good relations with China right from the days of Jawaharlal Nehru who even declined the seat in the UN Security Council, in favour of China, apparently from Russian advice inspite of knowing that China was always close to Pakistan. Anyway China was pleased and was very friendly and they called it Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai. Our then Defence Minister Krishna Menon, even stopped Ordnance Factories from manufacturing sophisticated arms, but this was a blunder as, when China attacked India in 1962 our soldiers were put to rout as the Chinese had superior arms. And now in 2008 history repeated itself when China, though so friendly with us, tried to block the passage of India’s inclusion into NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group), in Vienna and that too after India protected the Olympic Torch from the Tibetan marauders in all our cities.

The English language that is spoken and written by a vast majority of Indians helps us to go places, and we have an edge over China. India has a large pool of engineering and software personnel. Low cost, high quality, innovative, talented English-speaking resources are India’s advantages. Software programmers, systems analysts, info-security experts, domain analysts and a host of others are our forte. China cannot compete with India where English is concerned because of the inherent structure of Mandarin. Every letter in Mandarin is a full concept. Two thousand words of English turn into only around five hundred and fifty words approximately of Mandarin. So it is difficult for the Chinese to master the English language. Few Chinese speak good English. So the Chinese have made English compulsory in schools. Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar writing in The Times of India describes certain signs for visitors to China during the run-up to the recent Beijing Olympics. Sign in a garage: “If you are stolen, call the police at once”. Space for rent: “Please inform office if you are interesting”. Sign in a garden: “Little grass is having rest, don’t disturb them”. Sign on a wall: “Dying right here is strictly prohibited”.

China is known as the world’s factory. It is so true because when you visit the West almost every item you choose from a napkin to a laptop, from porcelain to metal is made in China. Besides, the growing middle class fuels growth. Chinese are generally very hardworking people, and most of them are frugal in their habits. The fast-food market in China grows by leaps and bounds because the Chinese families don’t cook at home and also because Chinese food is a delicacy for the tourists in general. 

There is no doubt that China is making great efforts for all-round development. It is there for the world to see when at the recent Olympics they notched more than 50 gold medals whereas just 16 years back they had around 5 or so. You may say that a lot of efforts are going on behind the so-called Iron Curtain, but China has shown its prowess in every field including financial capability when they spent over 40 billion dollars to host the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing. It is something to be emulated by any nation. There is a moral for the great show China put up. “Hard work and a great will power to attain the impossible”. It demonstrated the determination and dedication of the Chinese people to beat even the United States in the medal tally. And at the rate China is progressing we have still to hear and see a lot of success stories from this very ambitious and dynamic Chinese people.

Though we admire our neighbour, China has its own designs as demonstrated by the invasion of the state of Arunachal Pradesh in 1962 and the negative tactics played recently in 2008 at Vienna to keep India out of the atomic fraternity. So we are always wary of the Dragon and we have kept our borders well guarded keeping our Defence Budget fine tuned. A stitch in time saves nine, but at the same time we enjoy good economic and social camaraderie in order to maintain our credibility in the eyes of the world. Indeed China is India’s great trade partner.