India must speak language China understands, boycott their goods: Educationist Sonam Wangchuk

In a Skype interview with ThePrint, Sonam Wangchuk said India must use its wallet power as well as military might to overpower China.

Sonam Wangchuk | ThePrint

Leh, Ladakh: Sonam Wangchuk, who shot to fame after Aamir Khan portrayed him in the hit Bollywood movie 3 Idiots (2009), is making headlines again. This time for starting a movement to ‘Boycott China’.

An educationist, innovator and engineer, Wangchuk said it was time to push indigenous products and entrepreneurs to end Chinese dominance with “wallet power” instead of “military power”.

He explained the rationale behind his movement in a Skype interview with ThePrint.

Boycott China movement

More than a fortnight before the violent face-off at Galwan Valley occurred, Wangchuk released the first of a video series titled ‘Cheen Ko Jawaab‘ on Twitter on 28 May.

In it, he urged the global community to defeat China’s decades of aggression by boycotting Chinese products and goods.

USE YOUR WALLET POWER#BoycottMadeInChina #SoftwareInAWeekHardwareInAYear to stop Chinese bullying in Ladakh & eventually to liberate the 1.4 Bn bonded labourers in China, as also the 10 Mn Uighur Muslims & 6 Mn Tibetan Buddhists.
Click this link to playhttps://t.co/ICjRQJ2Umf pic.twitter.com/lpzAXxARPj

— Sonam Wangchuk (@Wangchuk66) May 28, 2020

Two days after 15 June, when 20 soldiers were killed in action in Galwan valley, Wangchuk posted a tribute to them.

“Chinese aggression may have got brutal now, but I have been observing their aggression for decades. I started this series because our pasture lands and our shepherds are suffering as they are finding it difficult to raise their Pashmina Goats. China is using border aggression in India to divert attention from its burning domestic issues in Taiwan. I decided that the response to China cannot be military alone, we need to respond with our wallets as well,” he told ThePrint.

Indians had responded to Galwan with anger, and some took to smashing their TVs, which are made in China. Some even vandalised shops that were selling Chinese products.

Asked if his movement could spur more of such hate, Wangchuk said his idea was to induce a regime change and not vandalism.

“Such vandalism is not new. People are often overtaken by emotion when soldiers are killed, but such emotional outbursts don’t help. Damaging business and property only make India a laughing stock in the world. We should instead act against the Chinese regime and its controlling trade tactics by boycotting their products,” he said.

Boycott needs to begin somewhere

Wangchuk isn’t the only one calling for a boycott of Chinese goods, but realistically, the move is easier said than done.

India’s trade deficit with China ⁠stood at over 60 per cent of the total trade between the two countries in 2019, according to data released by Chinese customs authorities. In 2018, India reportedly imported four times as much as it exported to China. Despite these facts, Wangchuk said it’s important to start turning things around.

“Boycotting Chinese products is a small step but you don’t stop a journey just because it’s too long. It’s better now than never. Sixty per cent trade deficit is a lot, but you have to start somewhere,” he said.

Wangchuk also said that the process of beating them at manufacturing and boycotting Chinese products need to go hand in hand.

“Beating Chinese products is easy. India can never make cheap low quality products like China. China’s products are cheap because they violate labour rights, human rights and environmental norms. We need to speak in a language they understand.

“Just as consumers defeated products born out child labour and animal cruelty with their wallets by not buying them, similarly we need to defeat Chinese products by not buying them and focus on building our own infrastructure, support entrepreneurs to build good quality products,” he said.