China and India are Asia's most populous countries and two of its largest economies. Although India's "Remove China Apps" has been suspended on the Google Play Store, the incident has reflected a deep-rooted anti-China sentiment among the Indian public. Where does this come from and what does it mean? How can the negative impacts be addressed and minimized?

Atul Aneja, a strategic affairs editor with The Hindu, pointed out that Indian people's response to "Remove China Apps" reflected the strong anti-China sentiment in India that got accelerated because of COVID-19.

"I think a lot has also to do with media projection of COVID-19 … Indians fed off a lot from what the American media was saying in the mainstream media and actually went on to believe with any particular proof that the novel coronavirus originated from Wuhan and probably was done deliberately by China," said Aneja. "Somehow that particular sentiment was aired by a couple of news organizations here who went to the extent of calling it the 'Wuhan coronavirus' and the 'China virus.'"

Aneja explained that although there's no scientific reason for such kind of malicious campaign, living in a globalized world means what happens in other parts of the world gets communicated to the media and the social media.

Prof. Chen Hong from East China Normal University echoed Aneja's point and said China has expected to see the West, led by the United States, instigate other countries to join their anti-China campaign, India being one of the targets. On the other hand, the quadrilateral dialogue between the United States, Japan, Australia, and India and the so-called Indo-Pacific strategy have been envisaged by the U.S. as a way to contain, suppress and deter China's development.

Independent current affairs commentator Einar Tangen added that China was painted by India as the aggressor in the 1962 Sino-Indian War and that image has lived on to this day.

Despite the anti-China sentiment in India, Aneja said he doesn't think "boycotting Chinese products" will go too far. He gave the examples of the popularity of Chinese smartphone brands in India and India's pharmaceutical industry's dependence of raw materials from China to explain that boycotting Chinese products is not viable.

Prof. Chen pointed out that, as the world's two largest developing countries with technological competitiveness, China and India have great potential to cooperate in technological research and development and various issues. 

"There's necessity to form and foster the kind of mutual trust between the two countries and the people…We should not let it (historical difference) develop into disputes or even confrontations. Indeed, in this world, supply chain is actually the key to international collaboration." Prof. Chen concluded.

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