Indiastepsupeconomic offensive against China

Chinese firms to be kept out of highway projects in move after LAC clash

nNEW DELHI: Chinese companies will no longer be allowed to participate in Indian highway projects, including through the joint venture route; China will not be allowed to invest in India’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector; and imports from China will be discouraged, Union minister for road transport, highways and MSME, Nitin Gadkari, has said.

The minister’s statement, in an interview with the news agency Press Trust of India, is part of India’s efforts to impose economic costs on China in the wake of continued Chinese aggression at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), and a part of India’s signalling to China that this aggression cannot coexist with preferential economic ties, according to two officials familiar with the decision-making process in government.

Gadkari’s comments come in the backdrop of India’s ban on 59 Chinese apps earlier this week, decisions by various government departments to cancel contracts with Chinese firms, reports of imports from China getting stuck at ports, and an earlier decision, in April, to tighten foreign direct investment inflows from neighbouring countries — with an eye on China — by requiring them to go through a more rigorous government approval process.

On Wednesday, Gadkari said, “We will not give permission to joint ventures that have Chinese