Illustration: Tang Tengfei/Global Times

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently reached cooperation with Chinese smartphone maker OPPO's Indian branch, sparking wide controversy in the country as voices questioning that the deal releases mixed signals against the backdrop of India banning hundreds of Chinese apps.

ISRO has entered into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with OPPO India to exchange technical information of the messaging services of India's domestic navigation system NavIC. "This will enable integrating NavIC messaging service with the mobile handset platform keeping in mind the need of Indian users," read a statement released by ISRO. 

Since the border clash in Galwan Valley in June 2020 and subsequently New Delhi announced restrictions on Chinese companies from participating in public procurement bids, the deal could be viewed as a rare positive sign for bilateral relations, though comprehensive improvement of economic exchanges still hard to be expected.

OPPO maintains obvious advantages in inking these kinds of agreements with India, given its efforts in localization in the South Asian market, and more importantly, Chinese high-tech companies' leading edge in the area of integrating navigation systems into commercial applications. 

China's domestically developed BeiDou Navigation Satellite System has entered commercial use comprehensively. The total output value of BeiDou and location service industry exceeded 400 billion yuan ($62.8 billion) in 2020, state broadcaster CCTV reported. With related applications entering commercial service accelerating, industry analysts predict that China's overall satellite navigation industry will reach 798.2 billion yuan in 2023, of which the output value of the Beidou System will reach 715.4 billion yuan.

Chinese technology companies, including smartphone makers like OPPO, have been contributing to the growth and been benefited enormously from the rapid development.

Collaborating with ISRO, OPPO India is going to provide them with industry-leading research and development (R&D) capabilities, and aims to build a convenient and user-friendly platform with NavIC application, OPPO India said on Twitter, noting that the cooperation supports the vision of India's self-reliance campaign.

Not only that OPPO has prominent advantages in offering the products and services, in fact, there are bare alternatives for India to choose except Chinese providers. By facilitating the application of India's navigation system, OPPO is promoting the growth of India's overall navigation industry, not to mention that OPPO has recorded relatively high localization with factories set up in the country.

In addition, OPPO's first overseas 5G innovation laboratory was established in India in 2020, focusing not only 5G R&D, and the 5G technology promotion in India, according to media reports. The Chinese smart phone vendor also launched a camera innovation laboratory in India earlier this year. 

Like many other Chinese investments in India, OPPO is contributing the growth of related Indian industries, which regrettably has been undermined by a soaring nationalism in the South Asian country. Some politicians have been rejecting such mutual beneficial cooperation with China simply for self-serving political goals.

From banning over 300 Chinese apps, heightening scrutiny of Chinese investments, to restricting Chinese companies from participating in public procurement bids, the environment for economic and trade exchanges between the two sides has encountered unprecedented headwinds. 

However, the setbacks also have demonstrated the economic complementarities between the two neighboring economies and India's economic dependence over Chinese industries. Bilateral trade has surpassed the $100 billion milestone in the first 10 months in 2021 despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

As for Chinese firms operating or intending to enter the market, though there have emerged signals recently that New Delhi is intending to wind down the hostile attitude toward economic exchanges with China, Chinese firms are still suggested to remain vigilant and to shore up operation strategies in the market for both short and long term.

The article was compiled based on an interview with Liu Zongyi, secretary-general of the Research Center for China-South Asia Cooperation at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies. bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn