Opinion | Can China and India still be business partners despite territorial row in Himalayas?

It is over one month into the stand-off between China and India in Donglang, or Dokalam as the area is known in India. The troops of two countries are mired in an eye-to-eye confrontation while round-the-clock media reports fan mutual antagonism. Fermented nationalism is felt in both China and India.

Last week, a video clip went viral on Chinese social media. It showed a group of Indians demolishing the signage of Chinese mobile phone brands Vivo and Oppo. Many Chinese have taken the clip as concrete proof that a carefully orchestrated campaign against Made-in-China products is under way across India. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the reading of this video is wrong. The video was shot two months earlier. It has nothing to do with resentment towards Chinese brands. The incident is sparked by the friction between mobile store owners and the local tax officer in Pune, a city at the centre of India.

There is no indication that a boycott of Chinese products is occurring across India despite sporadic reports that students in a few Mumbai schools were encouraged to avoid China-made stationaries. Indian media houses are keen on filing adversarial stories about China, similar to how China’s state-controlled media incite populist sentiment when Beijing faces challenges in dealing with other nations.

However, it should be stressed that the ongoing territorial row in the Himalayas has not rippled across the business community of China and India. Instead, economic cooperation between the two emerging markets is deepening, despite the standoff.