New Delhi: Amid escalating tension between India and China, Sonam Wangchuk an engineer turned education reformer in Ladakh and the inspiration behind director Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s popular Hindi film ‘3 Idiots’ has urged the citizens to boycott everything that is Chinese …. whether it is ‘Made in China’ goods or Chinese mobile apps.
Wangchuk released 2 consecutive video appeals on social media, explaining why Chinese products should be ignored and rejected by the citizens.
A day later, replying to detractors, Wangchuk said that his intention was not to spread hatred but he was fundamentally against the “expansionist” attitude of the Chinese government.
Wangchuck on being asked if boycotting China is not akin to spreading hatred, said “the problem is with the expansionist attitude of the Chinese govt which indulges in exploitation, not with the people of China”.
He pointed out the debt-trap diplomacy of China in Sri Lanka and how Hambantota port is almost sold to the Chinese industries. “Pakistan is trapped in so much debt that it will become slave of the Chinese regime,” he added.
‘Respond to Chinese bullets with Wallet power’
Wangchuk also alleges that Chinese forces have intruded tens of kilometres into the Ladakh boundaries since the 1962 Sino-Indo War. “The herdsman in Ladakh have lost their grassland, where will they take their sheep and goats?,” asks Wangchuck.
“If we citizens are clever we should use our wallet power rather than leaving it totally to our armies to respond with their bullets. The bullet response is what China is looking for as it helps unite its angry citizens to forgive the mistakes and forget the economic hardships caused by the regime’s poor handling of COVID 19,” he said.
