China signals it’s keen on reset in ties with India, get back to doing business

Beijing’s economic imperative is to not only boost its slowing economy, but also to build on its trade ties with large markets for trade and investment, especially with Trump having proposed tariffs up to 60 per cent on Chinese goods imports.

Business leaders in China said Beijing should leverage the potential that large middle-class markets such as India’s offer. China enjoys a surplus in its trade with India, and this has for long been a concern in New Delhi. But then, Beijing can explore investment opportunities in India given the NDA government’s focus on creating domestic manufacturing capabilities.

Four-and-a-half years after the border standoff in which 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers were killed, Chinese officials and business community have had to face actions such as bans on Chinese mobile apps, exclusion of Chinese firms from critical sectors, and lack of visas for Chinese businesses in India.

The Indian Express, along with other media members, interacted with a range of influential Chinese business persons and politicians in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing. While Beijing is China’s political capital, Shanghai is the financial capital (with about 1,000 MNCs having a base) and Shenzhen the tech capital.

Fuan Kong, Shanghai municipality’s foreign affairs chief, and a top leader in Shanghai, said China was making an effort to attract investments and imports from foreign countries and recently held an international exhibition focussed solely on imports to China. “China is open for business,” he said.

India has been keen to cut its trade deficit with China. India’s imports from China, even after an almost 3 per cent dip in 2023, stood at $99.59 billion, and its exports increased 7.13% to $16.23 billion. New Delhi has for long been seeking more access to China.

“We cherish peace and stability….We may have differences at the border but the most important thing is that we should look into the future,” said Fuan Kong, who is a top Shanghai leader. Quoting former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, who had led to the opening up of China, said, “We can set aside our differences. Let us join hands for our future plans.”

Across Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, officials, businesspersons and scholars did not give much emphasis to the border situation between India and China — in sync with the Chinese government’s policy of keeping the border issues separate from bilateral ties. They would often refer to the “ice-breaking meeting” between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

This is different from how New Delhi views the situation on the border and has made it an important precondition for any normalisation of ties. In the last one month or so, the two sides have started the disengagement process along the India-China border. They have said that they have completed the disengagement process at two friction points.

According to Fuan, the two countries can find opportunities to cooperate. He complained of visa restrictions to travel to India after the standoff. “It is impossible to get visas… Many Chinese businessmen came to me for help,” he said. But he said that Indian services and pharmaceutical companies have potential opportunities in China.

In the headquarters of Shanghai Pharmaceuticals, one of the top three pharmaceutical companies in China, its Vice President, Li Dongming, said, “I remember during the COVID-19 pandemic, we had sent help…” and hoped that the two countries are able to tap the potential of cooperation.

In Beijing-based Renmin university of China, Senior Fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Liu Zhiqin said, “There is a Chinese saying that close neighbours are far better than relatives far away”. “We should support each other for people’s development…International confrontation… not your target… India is the global brain and China is a global hand. China is not just a global factory, we can do something together,” Liu said.

In Shenzhen, in south-east China — called the smart and high-tech capital of China, carmaker BYD is innovating to manufacture high-end and smart cars on electric power — that can float on water, or drive on three wheels for a limited distance — at 140 kms per hour, if there is a flat tyre. BYD, which has a limited presence in India, is also looking at the Indian car market.

(The reporter was in China at the invitation of Chinese embassy, New Delhi)