Ummmmm, about all that ‘replacing China with India’ stuff
John Key, the current Ambassador from China to NZ, put all our cows in one Beijing Paddock as an economic strategy during his decade of empowering Beijing in the South Pacific.
Welcome to New XiLand
Turns out that strategy has locked us into geopolitical subservience to our new Chinese Economic OverLords, much to the fury of our Political Masters in Washington.
As we scramble to detach from China, India keeps getting mentioned as our new saviour from an authoritarian regime with questionable human rights practices…
Election 2023: Chris Hipkins promises trade delegation to India if Labour wins
Labour leader Chris Hipkins has promised to lead a prime ministerial trade delegation to India within the first 100 days of taking office if Labour wins the upcoming election.
Laying out his party’s economic strategy today, Hipkins said India would be a priority next term.
“After securing trade deals with the UK and EU this year, my next priority will be to lead a Prime Ministerial delegation to India within the first 100 days of a new Government,” he said. Hipkins met Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi in Papua New Guinea earlier this year, where Modi invited Hipkins to visit India.
…but is India a trading alternative from an authoritarian regime with questionable human rights practices OR is India another authoritarian regime with questionable human rights practices?
Arundhati Roy: The dismantling of democracy in India will affect the whole world
I thank the Charles Veillon Foundation for honoring me with the 2023 European Essay Award. It may not be immediately apparent how delighted I am to receive it. It’s even possible that I am gloating. What makes me happiest is that it is a prize for literature. Not for peace. Not for culture or cultural freedom, but for literature. For writing. And for writing the kind of essays that I write and have written for the past 25 years.
They have mapped, step by step, India’s descent (although some see it as an ascent) into first majoritarianism and then full-blown fascism. Yes, we continue to have elections, and for that reason, in order to secure a reliable constituency, the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party’s message of Hindu supremacism has relentlessly been disseminated to a population of 1.4 billion people. Consequently, elections are a season of murder, lynching and dog-whistling – the most dangerous time for India’s minorities, Muslims and Christians in particular.
It is no longer just our leaders we must fear, but a whole section of the population. The banality of evil, the normalisation of evil is now manifest in our streets, in our classrooms, in very many public spaces. The mainstream press, the hundreds of 24-hour news channels have been harnessed to the cause of fascist majoritarianism. India’s Constitution has been effectively set aside. The Indian Penal Code is being rewritten. If the current regime wins a majority in 2024, it is very likely that we will see a new Constitution.
It is very likely that the process of what is called “delimitation” – a reordering of constituencies – or gerrymandering as it is known in the US, will take place, giving more parliamentary seats to those Hindi-speaking states in North India where the BJP has a base. This will cause great resentment in the southern states and has the potential to balkanise India. Even in the unlikely event of an electoral defeat, the supremacist poison runs deep and has compromised every public institution that is meant to oversee checks and balances. Right now, there are virtually none, except a weakened and undermined Supreme Court.
…I’m not sure moving our trade from an Authoritarian Communist Regime that is committing cultural genocide and mass repression to a Racial Supremacist Fascist State that is committing hate crimes is really all that much of a win for New Zealand ethically.
Our trade is jumping out of the Chinese pan and into the Indian fire while our American Capitalist masters demand more heat.
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I think you are mistaken Martyn – this is a futuristic political tv series script. But it is easy to see how a sensitive blog-meister would have his buttons pushed when it is so reality styled.
Let’s be nice and keep selling them milk and cheese in the hope they will be kind to us.
I wonder if they have a multicultural one especially for us
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-coming-threat-of-a-genetically-engineered-ethnic-bioweapon/
If we bring morals into the trade agreement then we would find it hard to deal with anyone.Even Australia and Canada has a bad record of dealing with the natives,America has the Black /White divide, Europe and Africa have equality problems and Middle East is divides by religion,Russia is evil,Far East has ethnic divide and we are not that great either to point the finger st any other country.
How do we steer our way through the path of least disadvantage to us Trevor. We have to make decisions – and in this case it isn’t only the major race of a nation, it is the style of government that they have managed to foist on their people. The actual rather than the espoused is what needs to be noted, eg are we really a democracy?
A working democracy? And how equal is it? And how many different subgroups of democracy, mutant variations, are there? Do we all speak from the same viewpoint when discussing democracy? It’s all quite hard to understand and those who consider the answer is to be firm and stand by values are simple idiots, as there is always sideways movement that gets covered up.
Make peace with Maori. That’s how you navigate international trade relations.
India, China and also Russia all part of the same pact – BRICS. It’s impossible for NZ to decouple from the West but it sure looks like a winning block. The West is dying, almost dead. Ukraine/Western defeat will seal the deal.
Having worked with Indians at sea and visited there the cast system in India makes the English class system look good .I was told someone from a lower cast could not move up even if they became millionaires.We have to close our eyes hold our nose and sell baby sell if we are going to survive.