Tag : Skepticism

Colombo: The economic ties between India and the EU are being strengthened based on new trade and tech plan amid skepticism over China, reported Daily Mirror Online (DMO). The Sri Lanka-based publication said that the European Union (EU) is seeking deeper ties with New Delhi as Europe-China ties are strained by sanctions spat over accusations of rights abuses in Xinjiang that left progress on a 2020 investment agreement frozen. Moreover, there were accusations of economic coercion over Lithuania's friendly relations with Taiwan and disagreements over the war in Ukraine. Recently, in a first-of-its-kind meeting, three Indian ministers and four European commissioners discussed semiconductor supply chains and artificial intelligence regulation, reported DMO. After the first meeting of the EU-India Trade and Technology Council in Brussels, EU officials spoke of "very promising beginnings." Moreover, the EU wants to "de-risk" China ties as many countries are moving away from China's dominance in the sector due to supply chain vulnerabilities and geopolitical pressures. However, Brussels does not want to cut off ties with Beijing altogether, but it does want to diversify its supply chains. That's where India comes in, reported DMO. A large part of semiconductor manufacturing involves design and intellectual labour. India has an advantage here, as a large portion of semiconductor design engineers globally are either Indian or Indian-origin; chipmaking firms such as Intel and NVIDIA have large facilities in India that are already flush with Indian talent working on design problems. This is an advantage that China is losing control over in the face of sanctions and an ageing population. "India has a population of 1.4 billion. So, we ar ...