The Indian government has the responsibility to
uphold the legitimate rights of foreign investors,
while Chinese companies should abide by local
laws, he said.
The Karakoram clash fanned already growing
anti-Chinese sentiment amid the coronavirus
pandemic, which emerged in China in
December. India is the fourth worst affected,
with nearly 570,000 cases and more than 16,000
deaths. In response to the crisis, a movement
has emerged to promote India as an alternative
to China for Western markets and to shun
Chinese goods.
TikTok has sought to cultivate goodwill: in April
it said on Twitter that it had donated 30 crore
rupees (about $40 million) to PM Cares, a fund
set up by Modi’s office to battle the coronavirus.
The antagonisms carry risks for India: A broader
boycott could backfire if China were to retaliate
by banning exports of raw materials used by
India’s pharmaceutical industry. So far, it has not.
In the longer term, Chinese companies might
avoid investing in India’s technology sector and
Indian start-ups might be reluctant to accept
Chinese investments for fear of repercussions,
said Shaun Rein, managing director of market
intelligence firm China Market Research Group.
“Chinese investors are going to become very
wary of investing in India. They’ll be worried
that they might invest billions of dollars into
the country and either Indian consumers
will boycott and protest against them, or the
government will just ban them because they’re
backed by Chinese,” Rein said.