China is India’s top trading partner, claims Beijing
BEIJING: China is India’s largest trading partner, its foreign ministry said on Tuesday, countering the latest figures published by New Delhi, which said India traded more with the US than with any other country last year.
The Chinese foreign ministry said it was ready to take measures to advance normal trade with India.
India’s commerce ministry recently published data that showed the US had surpassed China to become India’s top trading partner in 2021-22, reflecting strengthening economic ties between the two democracies. In 2021-22, bilateral trade between the US and India stood at $119.42 billion as against $80.51 billion in 2020-21, Indian data showed.
China had traded more with
India during the same period at $125.66 billion, the Chinese foreign ministry pointed out.
The Chinese foreign ministry said the disparity could be because of differing calculating methods. “According to the statistics of Chinese competent authorities, bilateral trade volume between China and India stood at $125.66 billion in 2021.
On that basis, China remains India’s largest trading partner, and the total trade volume topped $100 billion for the first time (last year),” Zhao Lijian, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, said at the regular briefing on Tuesday. “The disparity in trade figures published by China and India is a result of different statistical measurement scales.”
Bilateral trade between India and China in 2021 stood at $125.66 billion, up 43.3% from 2020, when bilateral trade was worth $87.6 billion, data from China’s General Administration of Customs showed in January.
Trade deficit between the two nations—at $69 billion— remained much in favour of China and a worry for India in 2021. Sino-india trade had gone up despite the worst chill in bilateral ties because of the border tension in eastern Ladakh.
One reason why Sino-india trade increased in 2021 was because Chinese companies saw an increase in demand from India for medical equipment in the first half of the year, following a devastating second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
China does not object to the development of normal trade relations between India and the US, Zhao said, and China “…is not that interested i n t he changes of the ranking in trade volume”. China cares about “whether the Indian side has the will and takes real actions to create a fair, transparent, sustainable, and sound environment for bilateral trade and investment, further expand mutually-beneficial cooperation between the two sides and deliver tangible benefits to the two countries and two peoples,” Zhao said.
Asked about the widening trade deficit with India, Zhao said: “In principle, I would like to say that China never seeks a trade surplus. We stand ready to take measures to advance normal trade with India.”
He was also asked whether the chill in ties was impacting the trade. “The border situation is stable. The two sides have been maintaining close communication through diplomatic and military channels.