The world watched aghast as police armed with tasers, tear-gas masks—and in one case backed up by snipers—arrested hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters at universities across the United States.
Germany’s erstwhile Christian Democratic Union govt, led by Angela Merkel, prevented sale of small arms to police forces in states they perceived had ‘bad human rights record’.
A theme has not yet emerged for BJP & people see lack of a contest, which makes it unexciting. For all these reasons, 2024 is turning out to be an unexpectedly theme-less election.
Let us take the worst case scenario. Huawei is owned by the Chinese state, its founder is a mukhauta. A company with $ 100 billion in revenue, a lot of it in foreign countries, is a strategic asset for China. All the more since it is in the high technology sector, where China would like more of its economy to be. Not sure the Chinese would risk the future of the enterprise by making it a front for espionage and dirty tricks. For that matter, it is a safe bet that US tech firms like Google and Microsoft would be sharing every single byte of information with the US government whenever called upon to do so. If Facebook can do so much mischief for money, difficult to see any US firm say No if a request is made on grounds of national security. 2. It is now clear that the United States is trying to trip up China, impede its continuing rise, block the transition of its economy to a level of sophistication that matches America’s own. India must do it’s sums carefully, judge where its long term interest lies.
Indian authorities should not take this lightly. If advanced countries like the USA have found something fishy about Huawei, we must give credence to their scepticism. Following is a quote from this article:
“..Part of the reason for this unhindered growth is Huawei’s incredible talent to weave cheap prices into negotiations. Indian telecom industry sources say it offers products at much lower prices compared to competitors, sometimes even 40 per cent lower…”
There is no “talent” required to offer low prices — you can either afford to offer low prices or you cannot afford. “40% lower” is not necessarily alarming; the important thing would be to compare Huawei’s prices with other CHINESE SUPPLIERS for the same products. If Huawei is able to offer “surprisingly low prices” even compared to its “compatriots”, who obviously manufacture in the same milieu (same labor costs, same raw material or components cost, similar overheads etc), then obviously “somebody” is subsidising Huawei’s costs. Which could mean Chinese government or military.
On such issues there should be a linkup between India’s NIA and USA’s CIA or FBI.
Really excellent in depth analysis.
Many thanks for quoting me so extensively. I am extremely grateful.
Ravi Visvesvaraya Sharada Prasad
Let us take the worst case scenario. Huawei is owned by the Chinese state, its founder is a mukhauta. A company with $ 100 billion in revenue, a lot of it in foreign countries, is a strategic asset for China. All the more since it is in the high technology sector, where China would like more of its economy to be. Not sure the Chinese would risk the future of the enterprise by making it a front for espionage and dirty tricks. For that matter, it is a safe bet that US tech firms like Google and Microsoft would be sharing every single byte of information with the US government whenever called upon to do so. If Facebook can do so much mischief for money, difficult to see any US firm say No if a request is made on grounds of national security. 2. It is now clear that the United States is trying to trip up China, impede its continuing rise, block the transition of its economy to a level of sophistication that matches America’s own. India must do it’s sums carefully, judge where its long term interest lies.
Indian authorities should not take this lightly. If advanced countries like the USA have found something fishy about Huawei, we must give credence to their scepticism. Following is a quote from this article:
“..Part of the reason for this unhindered growth is Huawei’s incredible talent to weave cheap prices into negotiations. Indian telecom industry sources say it offers products at much lower prices compared to competitors, sometimes even 40 per cent lower…”
There is no “talent” required to offer low prices — you can either afford to offer low prices or you cannot afford. “40% lower” is not necessarily alarming; the important thing would be to compare Huawei’s prices with other CHINESE SUPPLIERS for the same products. If Huawei is able to offer “surprisingly low prices” even compared to its “compatriots”, who obviously manufacture in the same milieu (same labor costs, same raw material or components cost, similar overheads etc), then obviously “somebody” is subsidising Huawei’s costs. Which could mean Chinese government or military.
On such issues there should be a linkup between India’s NIA and USA’s CIA or FBI.