In the wake of China’s latest hard-headed stance against terrorist Masood Azhar’s global ban, it has become clear to the millions of people following the developments in India, that China is shielding terrorists because of its strong security alliance with Pakistan, Azhar’s active homeground. Citizens have taken to Twitter, starting a nation-wide movement with the hashtag #BoycottChineseProducts, including smartphones, laptops and apps.
https://twitter.com/sumat_patel/status/1106448171331399680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/secular_x/status/1106446258699304960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/abhichandra_ac/status/1105903223611645952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/MohiniGirish/status/1106499173623517185?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/Nikhilsangle96/status/1106497158419611648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Indians on Twitter are calling for a ban on Chinese smartphone makers like Xiaomi, Huawei, OnePlus, Vivo and Oppo, all of which constitute the top-selling smartphone brands in the country. In fact, Chinese smartphones command more than 60% market share in India and a majority of India’s imports from China consist of electronic goods.
How will Indian policy makers react to imports from China now, is something we will have to wait watch. However, in light of China’s stance against Azhar’s ban and the growing social media movement to ban goods from our East Asian neighbour, we at Digit want to know from you, How will this impact your future gadget purchases with respect to Chinese brands like Xiaomi, OnePlus, Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, Honor Lenovo, Nubia, Meizu and more. Take our quick poll on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and let us know your thoughts.
https://twitter.com/digitindia/status/1106481713335590912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
On February 14, terrorists belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit killed 44 Central Reserve Police Force personnel in India’s Jammu and Kashmir area, in what is now dubbed the deadly and unfortunate ‘Pulwama attack’. The orchestrator of this heinous crime, JeM, is a terror group whose sole purpose is to separate Kashmir from India, and the leader of this outfit, Masood Azhar has masterminded not only the Pulwama attack, but also the Uri Attack, the 2001 attack on Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly, the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, the 2016 Pathankot airbase attack, and many others.
Because of JeM’s growing terror activities, India, US, UK and France moved the United Nations Security Council to blacklist Masood Azhar and deem him a global terrorist under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee, which has 15 members. The committee takes decisions via a consensus and on Wednesday, China blocked the UN Security Council’s bid to impose sanctions on Azhar, freeze his assets, ban his travel and put him under an arms embargo. As China is a permanent member of the UNSC, the proposal to declare Azhar a global terrorist did not go through because a consensus could not be achieved. Most other countries, including many co-sponsors voted in favour of Azhar's ban, but China remained relentless. This is the fourth time in 10 years that China has blocked the same proposal, while all other member and co-sponsors have expressed their support for the same.