The situation between India and China at the eastern Ladakh border is still not resolved. The External Affairs Minister of India, S. Jaishankar, has requested Indian businesses to take a more careful approach when dealing with their Chinese counterparts.
In his remarks at an event announced by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Jaishankar argued that in the search for solutions to the China challenge, Indian firms should be more sensitive to “China risk” so that they prioritize indigenous manufacturers and suppliers where possible.
The External Affairs Minister underscored that the advice stipulated that Indian companies be actively alert to national security concerns when engaging with China; however, he stressed that this does not obligate full closure to all inter-business relations with China.
Jaishankar’s statement was made after the bilateral relations were endangered due to the border standoff between India and China that gradually turned out to be very dangerous for the friendship between the two countries.
The minister tried to compare the border situation to dealing with China, stating that it would not be like trying to talk with somebody who had just entered my home and made a mess of the fence around our compound.
Jaishankar also named China for employing coercion tools, referring to cases in which exports, imports, and other economic levers have often been wielded as political weapons.
