NEW DELHI: Chinese ambassador Xu Feihong likened the US to a “bully” on Thursday and said Beijing will stand with New Delhi to uphold the multilateral trading system at a time when Washington is using tariffs to demand “exorbitant prices” from other countries.
The envoy’s remarks, made during a discussion on the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin next week that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend, reflected the sudden thaw in India-China relations against the backdrop of growing strains between New Delhi and Washington over trade-related differences.
“At present, tariff wars and trade wars are disrupting the global economic and trade system, power politics and the law of the jungle are prevalent, and international rules and order have suffered severe impacts,” Xu said, adding global trade shouldn’t be a tool for “pursuing individual selfish interests”.
China, Xu said, “firmly opposes” the tariffs of up to 50% imposed on India by the US. “In the face of such acts, silence or compromise only emboldens the bully. China will firmly stand with India to uphold the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) at its core,” he said.
The US, which greatly benefited from free trade, is now using “tariffs as a bargaining chip to demand exorbitant prices from various countries”, he said. Amid “hegemony, protectionism, power politics and bullying”, China and India should lead in promoting an equal and orderly multipolar world, he added.
The Trump administration is set to impose a 25% punitive tariff on Indian exports from August 28 over Russian oil purchases, on top of a 25% reciprocal tariff already in place. The US has also called off talks on a proposed trade deal with India amid the worst downturn in bilateral ties in more than two decades.
The strained India-US ties appear to have spurred efforts by New Delhi and Beijing to normalise their relations in the aftermath of a prolonged military face-off on the Line of Actual Control that ended last October, and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s meetings with top Indian leaders in New Delhi this week resulted in a slew of initiatives, ranging from an “early harvest” in boundary delimitation to resumption of direct flights and promotion of trade and investment flows.
Xu, who was part of a panel that included former Indian Army chief General MM Naravane (retd) and retired diplomats, said the Global South is concerned about how China and India can take the lead to help developing countries overcome difficulties and “safeguard international fairness and justice”.
Modi’s visit to China to attend the SCO Summit on August 31 and September 1 will inject new impetus to the improvement of China-India relations at a time when the world is experiencing a turbulent period, he said. Noting that bilateral trade has exceeded $100 billion for many years, Xu said “confrontation and antagonism will only lead to a lose-lose situation”.
Xu used the discussion, whose theme was “SCO Summit 2025: Resetting India-China ties”, to propose suggestions for improving bilateral relations, including enhancing “strategic mutual trust”, working as partners rather than rivals, and managing differences through dialogue.
“We welcome more Indian commodities to enter the Chinese market. India has a competitive edge in IT, software and biomedicine, while China is seeing rapid expansion in the fields of electronic manufacturing, infrastructure construction and new energy,” he said.
“The Chinese side welcomes more Indian enterprises to invest in China. It is also hoped the Indian side could provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises in India,” he added.
The two sides should promote people-to-people contacts and liberalise visas, he said, noting China issued over 280,000 visas to Indians last year. The two sides are also engaged in discussions on the resumption of direct flights, the posting of resident journalists, and visa facilitation.
