India, China hold meet on trade, tech Cong criticises govt’s ‘doublespeak’ on China

NEW DELHI: As part of the government’s renewed engagement with China, the two countries hosted the 11th meeting of the India-china Joint Group on Economic Relations, Trade, Science and Technology here on Monday. The last such meeting was held in Beijing in September 2014.

The meeting was co-chaired by commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu and his Chinese counterpart Zhong Shan and the two discussed ways to address trade imbalance and create an action plan to take trade ties forward, a government statement as well as officials familiar with the meeting said.

“Trade is a very important aspect of bilateral ties between the two. That this meeting happened the second time after the NDA government came to power goes well with the series of bilateral engagements India and China are undertaking in recent times,” said an Indian official.

Welcoming Zhong, Prabhu stressed that this joint group is one of the oldest and “most important dialogue mechanism between the two sides”. A statement from the government said India’s trade imbalance with China is the most important issue to be taken up by the group. “The minister exhorted his Chinese counterpart for greater market access for agricultural products like rapeseed, soyabean, basmati and non-basmati rice, fruits, vegetables, and sugar. Another commodity which could be exported from India to China is the high quality pharmaceutical products,” it said.

Prabhu listed the export of India’s IT and IT Enabled Services (ITES) to China and said the focus should be on cooperation in tourism and healthcare.

The growing trade deficit with China is a cause of concern for India. India had a $51.1 billion trade deficit with the neighbour in 2016-17, which grew to $52.9 billion in the April-january period of 2017-18.

The government release said Zhong welcomed the investment and promised to address the trade deficit.

“The minister highlighted the important issues discussed in the meeting like two-way trade relations, preparation of an action plan, greater focus on Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and e-dialogue,” the statement said. NEWDELHI: The Congress on Tuesday said the government’s “uncertain foreign policy and continuous denials and doublespeak on the Chinese misadventure in Doklam” were harming India’s strategic interests.

The main opposition party also sought a reply from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the backdrop of the Chinese military reportedly moving closer to the “Chicken’s Neck” — the Siliguri corridor that connects India’s northeastern states with the rest of the country -- through Doklam by building a new road.

“Modi may have forgotten his false bravado of ‘56-inch chest’ and ‘Laal Aankh’ (red eye) but, for four years, the people of India are waiting for his ‘tackle China plan’,” Congress spokesperson RPN Singh said.

He said India was increasingly facing Chinese moves to intrude into the Chicken’s Neck but the “clueless Modi government has been caught napping”.

“Mere lip service response,” he said.

“The BJP is utterly consumed in managing headlines f or domestic expansion.”

The Congress also attacked the government on the reports of repeated intrusions of the Chinese military helicopters into Indian airspace at Barahoti in Uttarakhand.

“Has the Modi government taken note of these incursions? Why have such i ntrusions become a routine affair?” asked Singh.

He said the Congress would always press for disengagement of conflict at Doklam between India-china-bhutan through diplomatic means and to the satisfaction of all sides.

“We always believe that the Doklam issue should be sorted out by conversation, persuasion, and diplomacy in the first instance in the interest of all the three countries --- India, China and Bhutan,” Singh said. is no