[NEW DELHI] China is willing to buy more Indian products to balance trade, Beijing’s Ambassador Xu Feihong said just ahead of a US tariff announcement expected to hit the south Asian neighbours.
“We are willing to work with the Indian side to strengthen practical cooperation in trade and other areas, and to import more Indian products that are well-suited to the Chinese market,” the ambassador to India was quoted as saying by China’s state-run Global Times, in a story posted Monday (Mar 31).
Bilateral trade between the neighbours stood at US$101.7 billion in 2023 to 2024, according to India’s trade ministry, with India running a significant deficit. India’s main exports include petroleum oil, iron ore, marine products and vegetable oil, amounting to US$16.6 billion, according to the government figures.
The envoy’s remarks were to mark the 75th anniversary of the diplomatic ties. In a congratulatory message to mark the occasion, Chinese President Xi Jinping also called for stronger communication and cooperation between the world’s two most populous countries, according to China Central Television. It is the right choice for the two nations to be partners, Xi said in a message to the president of India, adding that he is willing to deepen coordination in major international matters and jointly safeguard peace in the border areas.
US President Donald Trump, who is set to roll out reciprocal tariffs on Wednesday on countries around the world, has called out China and India for trade practices that he sees as unfair.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi lavished praise on Trump in a podcast in March and has been making concessions to appease the US leader. Modi also said he is working with the Chinese President to restore normalcy at the border.
Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours plunged after clashes in a disputed region of the Himalayas in 2020, when skirmishes between troops led to the first deadly clashes in four decades. New Delhi hit back economically, by blocking investment and curtailing access to the vast Indian market for Chinese tech firms especially.
Xi and Modi met on the sidelines of the Brics summit last year, agreeing to restart direct flights in a sign of a thaw. They had not had a formal bilateral meeting prior to that since 2019. BLOOMBERG