Boycott may not hurt China's economy, says Congress

Amid a call for boycotting Chinese goods, Congress on Saturday said such a move may not hurt the Chinese economy as its trade with India was a small fraction of its global trade.

“If you boycott Chinese goods.. .. what part of China's trade in India is China's world trade. It is a fraction, a small fraction. Boycotting Chinese goods may not hurt Chinese economy,” former finance minister P Chidambaram said at a media interaction.

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Moreover, Chidambaram said issues such as boycotting Chinese goods should not be brought up when “grave matters” such as the defence of India and its territory were being debated.

“I think the defence of India and the defence of the territory of India are very weighty matters. Let us not bring issues like boycotts,” the senior Congress leader said.

Chidambaram said India should strive to become self-reliant as much as possible, but at the same time it cannot decouple from the rest of the world.

The Congress leaders said he concurred with former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda’s statement to tone down the rhetoric of nationalism. “This is not the time for language of provocation and revenge,” Deve Gowda had said.