China alternative in global supply chain begins taking shape
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, September 9: The US, smitten by the Chinese clever game to blunt the western sanctions against Russia in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has begun working with friendly countries to cut Beijing to size in the global supply chain.
It has emerged that the first in-person meeting of the Indo Pacific Economic Forum (IPEF), taking place in Los Angeles in the US, has fast-tracked the resolve to promote China alternative in the global supply chain.
It may be recalled that the Quad Summit in Tokyo this year had committed to building reliable and resilient global supply chain.
“Both nations believed that we need to have self-reliance as a core philosophy and have resilient supply chains between trusted partners who believe in transparent economies and rules-based trading systems. The US is very keen to work with India so that our dependence on other countries, particularly those nations where we have faced severe problems in the last two to three years can be reduced,” Union Minister for Commerce Piyush Goyal said. He’s taking part in the Ministerial meeting of the IPEF.
The Minister’s indication was clear since China has been the source of stress for both the US and India in the recent months.
With India, the People’s Liberation Army of China sought to later the status quo on the line of actual control in the eastern Ladakh. Sino-US relations have taken deep drive, with the visit of the Speaker of the US House Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.
China for decades has been the global factory, churning out the goods exported of the US, which are exported globally. Tesla and Apple heavily bank on China for their manufacturing. With China providing scale of operations, and strict compliance with the process-based manufacturing, the US companies have been heavily dependent on Beijing for their businesses.
But the US companies, particularly Apple, the makers of the I-Phone, are looking for alternatives in India and other East Asian countries such as Philippines.
Referring to the series of meeting he had with US companies in India, World Economic Forum, Davos, the WTO meeting and in the Bay area, Goyal said that these interactions gave him a sense of encouragement that US Companies are looking to expand hiring in India and to expand their research and development, technology support systems and back offices.
“Numbers they are indicating in terms of their hiring plans are truly staggering,” Goyal said.
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