Acquiesce or Fight?- WW
June 21, 2020
June 22- Acquiesce or Fight?
Consider two neighbouring houses. Dragon resides in one house and Tiger resides in the other. The two neighbours were at parity at some point of time. Both had a great history in their respective past. They shared a rich culture with each other and envisioned a common growth story. But as time elapsed, the dragon neighbour had an expansionist thought. The Dragon started encroaching its neighbours lands. Both the neighbours toiled hard to overcome their poverty state. In the midst, there developed a huge gap in the two neighbours' purse value. As time went, the Tiger's belief in his neighbour reduced but still their relationship went business as usual. With too much stakes on hold, the dragon even bullied its neighbour now and then. Sadly the illegal encroachment didn't stop nor its persuasion to do so. Then came a point, the Dragons message was clear- Acquiesce or fight. With every respect to its sovereignty, should the Tiger still run her relationship as business as usual ? Should she acquiesce in order to maintain peace without any relevance to her own sovereignty ? Should She cowdown to the bullying of her rhetoric neighbour? Or should it take the hard choice and fight?
By Sathish T K
P.S: #BoycottChina
I was mulling over the idea of writing a full Mute Spectator on the #BoycottChina campaign and how it is not advisable to say the least; but I found many interesting pieces on the internet advocating the exact same points. So I thought I’ll just share those articles to our readers and also say a few more points.
I’ll recommend three primary articles supporting my view- it is unwise to simply boycott Chinese products because a. We have a lot more to lose than gain; b. It is simply not possible.
- The Indian Express Explained series where they point out the basic reasons why #boycottChina will hurt us more.
- Columnist Vivek Kaul writes on why it is impossible to boycott anything Chinese with proper examples.
- T.N Ninan argues that in pursuit of hurting China, we should not shoot our own foot.
I’ll also recommend an article by Ameya Pratap Singh and Urvi Tembey from The Print where they make a case for rational import substitution, but they mostly call for vitalisation of India’s private sector and making them more competitive. India’s stint with import substitution policies in the past not only stagnated Indian growth but also made India miss the manufacturing bus. So anything relating to import substitution must be studied very carefully before even thinking of devising any kind of plan.
P.P.S: Also read an old article on why protectionism hurts Indian economy by Vivek Kaul.
By Benolin
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