China urges India for joint action against US tariffs, 'should scale up economic ties'

China firmly opposes the Trump administration's 50 per cent tariffs on India as it is "unfair and unreasonable" and New Delhi and Beijing should scale up economic ties to jointly counter the challenge, Chinese ambassador Xu Feihong said on Monday (September 8).

Xu also said that both India and China are victims of terrorism, and Beijing stands ready to work with the international community, including New Delhi, to combat the challenge.

The Chinese envoy to India was responding to questions after delivering his speech at an event organised to mark the 80th anniversary of China's victory against Japan.

Xu also said that important consensus was reached between India and China on the boundary issues and that bilateral relationship between the two sides has not been impacted by a third party, in an apparent reference to Pakistan.

Criticises US tariff policy

In his remarks, Xu was severely critical of the US tariff policy.

The US is using the tariffs as a kind of "weapon" to extract "exorbitant" costs from various countries and India and China, the two very important emerging economies, must cooperate with each other to navigate the situation, he said.

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"The trade war (was) started by the US. International trade should complement each other and lead to mutually-beneficial win-win cooperation. The US has long benefited from free trade. But now it is using the tariff as a kind of weapon or a tool," he said.

"The US is imposing tariffs of up to 50 per cent on India. It is unfair, unreasonable, China firmly opposes it," he said, adding India and China should jointly explore how to counter this "threat".

‘Our economies are complementary’

The ambassador said the two countries should scale up cooperation in the economic and trade domain.

"We have 2.8 billion people, we have mega-size economies, mega-size markets, and we have hard working people. Our economies are complementary," he said.

Xu also recalled Chinese President Xi Jinping's remarks during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 31 on the margins of the SCO summit.

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"Xi said China and India are at a very special stage of development and as the two biggest and very important emerging economies, China and India should focus on development and promotion of mutual support, mutual complementarity, and mutual success," the envoy said.

"PM Modi said that India-China cooperation will make the 21st century a genuine Asian century. Both of them stressed the importance of economic cooperation between our two sides," he said.

‘Victims of terrorism’

To a question, the Chinese envoy also said that both China and India are "victims of terrorism".

"We share common interests in the field of counter-terrorism. China and India have maintained communications on counter-terrorism through multilateral mechanisms such as the SCO, BRICS, and the Tianjin Declaration in which the (SCO) member states condemned terrorism in all its forms," he said.

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"China is always firmly opposed to all forms of terrorism and stands ready to work together with the international community, including India, to advance the implementation of the global security initiative," he said.

Xu said efforts are underway to address the threats of terrorism and safeguard regional as well as global peace and stability.

The ambassador said China and India are at a critical stage of national development and both sides should devote their valuable resources to national development.

‘Promote mutual growth’

Both sides should provide mutual support, promote mutual growth, and help each other to succeed, he said.

"China stands ready to strengthen the synergy of development strategies and share experience in modernisation with India," Xu said.

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"We welcome more Indian companies to promote their products and invest in China, and we also hope that India could provide a fair, just, and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises," he said.

(With agency inputs)