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Andhra Nero Kiran Kumar Reddy today valiantly announced that China is in talks to invest a staggering US $160 billion in Andhra Pradesh; in various sectors that include infrastructure development, real-estate, education, SMEs, and light-industry. Mr Reddy and his minions are projecting this is some sort of governance victory; but in reality, has anyone with a basic understanding of national security and geopolitics, worried.
Reddy says that no less than the economic advisor to Xi Jinping, Shoosan Maa assured him that China plans to invest around US $160 billion in the state, across various sectors, over a short period of time. It looks really dicey, and could go a long way in lifting up the economy, employment, right? Wrong! China realised that it can pull an "Africa" on India, by adapting a carrot and stick approach. Keeping the LAC hot is the stick, and "investments" are the carrots, or are they?
China, over the past two decades, struck similar "investment" deals with underdeveloped African nations, where they would invest on heavy infrastructure, real-estate, and "education," but not necessarily spending that money in a way that betters the local economies. Typically, Chinese investments would funnel back to Chinese companies in contracts to undertake big projects; and these companies would then cite lack of skill or scale in the local labour-force, and bring with them their very own labour-force from China. A key word here is "investment" and not "aid." India (Andhra Pradesh), and its citizens will eventually foot the bill for that $160 billion. When that much money is being spent here, it's being done so that >160 billion goes back, in profits.
The influx of a Chinese labor-force to support undertaking of projects that benefit from that $160 billion investment will not be small, it will be akin to the influx of South Asian labour to UAE, to support its real-estate and infra boom, only at a much larger scale. One couldn't even imagine the national security risk that a flash-flood of, say, 100,000 Chinese workers poses.
The other big sector Reddy chest-thumped about, was education. Andhra Pradesh, particularly Hyderabad, attracts students from all over the country for its engineering and IT education; among several other disciplines. Chinese investments into the education sector will not just bring Chinese labour to support the infra-projects associated with investments in the sector, but also students. Zhoushan Maa, Jinping's economic advisor, announced that he expects 10,000 Chinese students studying in Andhra Pradesh with the beginning of investments into the education sector. That number could obviously rise.
Andhra Pradesh is not just a big state with a metropolis, it has a 900 km coastline, three merchant ports (Vizag, Kakinada, Krishnapatnam), the seat of the Eastern Naval Command in Vizag, India's sole cosmodrome at Sriharikota, India's largest cache of nuclear fuel (NFC Hyderabad), key defence institutions in and around Hyderabad (BDL, DRDO, NRSA, HAL to name a few), and so on.
Valid concerns or fear-mongering? Discuss.
Reddy says that no less than the economic advisor to Xi Jinping, Shoosan Maa assured him that China plans to invest around US $160 billion in the state, across various sectors, over a short period of time. It looks really dicey, and could go a long way in lifting up the economy, employment, right? Wrong! China realised that it can pull an "Africa" on India, by adapting a carrot and stick approach. Keeping the LAC hot is the stick, and "investments" are the carrots, or are they?
China, over the past two decades, struck similar "investment" deals with underdeveloped African nations, where they would invest on heavy infrastructure, real-estate, and "education," but not necessarily spending that money in a way that betters the local economies. Typically, Chinese investments would funnel back to Chinese companies in contracts to undertake big projects; and these companies would then cite lack of skill or scale in the local labour-force, and bring with them their very own labour-force from China. A key word here is "investment" and not "aid." India (Andhra Pradesh), and its citizens will eventually foot the bill for that $160 billion. When that much money is being spent here, it's being done so that >160 billion goes back, in profits.
The influx of a Chinese labor-force to support undertaking of projects that benefit from that $160 billion investment will not be small, it will be akin to the influx of South Asian labour to UAE, to support its real-estate and infra boom, only at a much larger scale. One couldn't even imagine the national security risk that a flash-flood of, say, 100,000 Chinese workers poses.
The other big sector Reddy chest-thumped about, was education. Andhra Pradesh, particularly Hyderabad, attracts students from all over the country for its engineering and IT education; among several other disciplines. Chinese investments into the education sector will not just bring Chinese labour to support the infra-projects associated with investments in the sector, but also students. Zhoushan Maa, Jinping's economic advisor, announced that he expects 10,000 Chinese students studying in Andhra Pradesh with the beginning of investments into the education sector. That number could obviously rise.
Andhra Pradesh is not just a big state with a metropolis, it has a 900 km coastline, three merchant ports (Vizag, Kakinada, Krishnapatnam), the seat of the Eastern Naval Command in Vizag, India's sole cosmodrome at Sriharikota, India's largest cache of nuclear fuel (NFC Hyderabad), key defence institutions in and around Hyderabad (BDL, DRDO, NRSA, HAL to name a few), and so on.
Valid concerns or fear-mongering? Discuss.
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