Every time you buy a product...
Friends of Tibet (India), November 22, 2002

...make sure that you are not buying a product "Made in China". Many may wonder why one should not buy an affordable and attractive Chinese product easily available in any Indian shops. And the reasons are many:

The "one-hour technology" products from China started entering the Indian households some years ago. Even though majority of the products did not succeed in the Indian market due to the "poor and inferior" quality, the Chinese "invasion" of our market is still continuing. Dumping of Chinese-made fans, locks, watches, bicycles, radios, batteries etc are slowly replacing our indigenous products and becoming a threat to the Indian industry.

Indian toy industry is more or less wiped out due to the dumping of cheap Chinese toys - produced mainly by the Chinese Military Industrial Complex of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). In the last few years, many manufacturing units in India have been closed down due to this competition, while some companies adopted the next best line of action - by joining the enemy. Some Indian companies have already shifted their production bases from small Indian towns and villages to China, which resulted in the unemployment of lakhs of workers, pushing them into the brink of starvation. China's slow entry into our textile, food, information- technology, automobile and other sectors may result in the collapse of many Indian industries - in both organised and unorganised sectors.

By now, we are very well aware of Pakistan's "borrowed" military abilities and the monetary support they receive from China. Transfer of small arms, tanks, nuclear capable M-11 missiles and other technologies to Pakistan to strengthen their "Holy War" against India and the training and support China gives to the insurgent movements in NE India, should be a matter of great concern to each one of us. Much before India tested her first nuclear device in 1974, China had assigned 12 nuclear scientists, ancillary staff and substantial financial support to assist Pakistan in developing a nuclear weapon to be used against India.

"Made in China" products can be classified into three: 1. Products Made in Forced Labour Camps 2. Products manufactured by the Chinese Military 3. Products Manufactured by the Disenfranchised Labour Force. It is also a well-known fact that the ironically named People's Liberation Army (PLA), party leaders and cadres own over 95% of the Chinese economy - directly or through a variety of proxies.

Business is everything! In 1998, New York Police busted a racket of some senior Chinese officials involved in the sale of transplant organs of executed prisoners. It is estimated that more than 18 million people work in thousands of forced labour camps across China, which include a good majority of "political offenders". With more than 2,300 executions per year, China tops the world and most of the executions take place in front of crowds inside sports stadiums and public squares in the most preferred way — "a bullet to the back of the head," — because it does not contaminate the prisoners' organs with poisonous chemicals, as lethal injections do.

Remember that every time you buy a product "Made in China", you are funding and empowering a brutal and corrupt regime in Beijing. We request all of you to boycott Chinese goods to save and protect the striving Indian industry and start a battle against an ever-expanding dictatorship in China. Spread the word. Take a pledge that you will NOT buy, use or sell a product "Made In China".

(Sources: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Times of India, The Economic Times and Rangzen Charter)

Write to us to know more about this nation-wide campaign:

Friends of Tibet (India)
Post Box 16674
Bandra PO
Bombay 400050
Internet: www.friendsoftibet.org
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