Decoding China - the lessons for a vulnerable India

In the op-ed titled "Decoding China - the lessons for a vulnerable India," in the Hindu newspaper dated 07/08/25, Sasi Tarur, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs, narrates how China arrests India's aspiration to become a global manufacturing hub. He explains China's geo-economic strategy through the recent recall of over 300 expert technicians from the iPhone manufacturing hubs of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, which, according to him, is not a logistical reshuffling, but a calculated move to weaken India's manufacturing sector. Other strategies include informal export restrictions on equipment and raw materials that are vital for India's high-tech industries. But it is not easy to challenge as these measures are implemented through verbal directives and administrative delays. China aims to leverage its dominance in these areas to become a unipolar Asian economic hegemon. Tarur also looks at this from a Chinese perspective. The export competitiveness is a domestic compulsion for them due to various reasons. Its shrinking and aging populace, a result of the earlier one-child policy, compels the government to spend huge amounts on social welfare and pension liability. But China has cleverly used its weakness of less domestic consumption and overproduction as a strategic instrument for price suppression and market capture, an economic statecraft in action. The author concludes with the suggestion to laser focus on foundational development, if India wants to become truly self-reliant and a global manufacturing hub.