China will stand with India against trade bullies: Envoy

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.

- Rezaul H Laskar

The envoy’s remarks, at a discussion on the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend next week, reflected the recent thaw in India-China relations against the backdrop of growing strains between New Delhi and Washington over trade-related difference:

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 Organization (WTO) at its core," he said.

He also called India and China the double engines of Asia and said Beijing will welcome more commodities and investment from its neighbour.

"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".