Beijing: – India, Japan and Australia have taken the initiative to establish cooperation under the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI). This has delivered a strong jolt to China, known as the global manufacturing hub or the ‘Factory of the World’. China has reacted to this, and the Chinese foreign ministry has criticised that the activities being carried out by these countries are against the international trade laws. Zhao Lijian, the spokesman of the Chinese foreign ministry, warned that while the world is struggling to bring the economies out of the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic, these activities could threaten the process.
The virus spread from the Wuhan province in China to the rest of the world. In the initial stages, China was the worst affected by the pandemic, and the Chinese manufacturing sector came to a grinding halt. After the manufacturing sector in China, known to be the world’s factory, was hit, the leading countries of the world and the multinational companies started feeling the need for a credible alternative. The Corona crisis and the Chinese domination policies, and the Chinese disposition towards using its military-economic might for these domination policies are also becoming a cause for concern. China has major diplomatic disputes with its largest trading partners. Therefore, it has been repeatedly proved that China is using the might of the manufacturing sector for achieving its political objectives. The United States, Japan and Australia have specially experienced this.
Against this background, India, Japan and Australia started preparations to create an alternative for the Chinese supply chain. SCRI forms an integral part of these efforts. Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, Japanese Minister of Economy Trade and Industry, Kajiyama Hiroshi, and Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Dan Tehan, have taken the initiative for the SCRI. It has been announced through SCRI that these three countries will be creating a credible supply chain.
During the virtual conference, the goal was set to create a supply chain that will not budge in front of crisis and obstacles and support consistent, strong, balanced, and all-inclusive development. At this time, Minister for Trade Piyush Goyal underlined the importance of the exchange of information and expressed confidence that this will assist in developing capacities. At the same time, Goyal appealed to the officials to assess the existing supply chain and find and eliminate any lacunas in the system. Minister of Trade Goyal also appealed to the officials to identify five made in India products with an existing supply chain and take the initiative to share the information with the companies in Japan and Australia.
Goyal expressed confidence that this will make an option to bring variety in the supply chain available to the Japanese and Australian companies. But China has expressed concerns over the SCRI project. Zhao Lijian, the spokesman of the Chinese foreign ministry, warned, ‘The supply chain for the international industry cannot deviate from one place to another. Also, deviating this chain from one place to another goes against the international trade laws. This could also create obstacles in the international supply chain.’
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