DoT u-turn on Chinese security issues

The International Relations (IR) cell of India’s Department of Telecommunication (DoT) has highlighted 15 nations for possible collaboration on the development and manufacturing of infrastructure equipment. The Economic Times quoted a DoT spokesperson as saying that despite previous security concerns, China had been listed as a potential partner in ‘technology research and development, manufacturing, telecom infrastructure in managing urbanisation.’ As previously reported by CommsUpdate, in late August this year the DoT had proposed limiting Chinese telecom imports to accessories and devices, leaving more strategic imports to ‘non-controversial countries.’ However, the IR official stated that China and India ‘cannot grow [as] adversaries. We hope these issues will get eliminated by successful cooperation.’ Also suggested as partners thanks to their expertise or experience in a specific field were the US, Germany, France, Israel, South Korea, Finland, Japan and Sweden