India slams China over its trade practices
NEWDELHI: China’s assertion that India’s ban on Chinese mobile applications is “selective and discriminatory” is completely misplaced, and New Delhi has a long list of Beijing’s discrimininatory trade practices related to trade and investments, officials aware of the matter said.
India also has a list of Beijing’s restrictive trade and investment policies such as the imposition of internet censorship through “Great firewall”, restrictions on long-term visas and non-tariff barriers on investments, two officials working in separate ministries, who did not want to be named, said.
The Indian Newspaper Society on Thursday slammed China for restricting access to Indian newspapers and media websites and urged the government to expeditiously take steps to ban access to Chinese media in the country.
Chinese state-controlled Global Times on Thursday tweeted quoting China’s commerce ministry spokesperson Gao Feng as saying: “To date, China has not adopted any restrictive or discriminatory measures targeting #India’s products and services.”
The officials brushed aside Beijing’s contentions and its veiled threat to drag India to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over the decision to ban 59, mostly Chinese, mobile applications, citing concerns that these are “prejudicial to sovereignty of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.”
One of the officials cited above, who is also a legal expert on the strategic matters, said, “Beijing has no basis to challenge New Delhi’s June 29 decision [to ban the applications]. Is there any agreement on this matter with China? No. Not to my knowledge. India can defend [it] easily under the clause of national security interest and sovereignty of the country.”
He added: “Therefore, the official Chinese reaction on June 30 was subdued and did not mention any bilateral or multilateral [WTO] agreement.”
Tensions between India and China escalated after 20 Indian soldiers and an unspecified number of Chinese troops were killed in a clash with Chinese troops in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley on June 15.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Tuesday said, “Practical cooperation between China and India is mutually beneficial. Deliberate interference in such cooperation will not serve the interests of the Indian side.”
TS Vishwanath, the principal advisor at law firm APJ-SLG Law offices, said, “This decision [on banning the applications has been] taken based on national security concerns.”
He said that India can take any action to protect its national security interest as per the WTO agreement.
The second official cited above, who works in an economic ministry, said China is indulging in “illegal and unfair” practices such as routing its goods through third countries with which India has preferential trade arrangements (PTAS) to avoid paying higher duty. China is dumping cheaper products in India to harm Indian industries, the official added.
“The government is aware and agencies have been told to take action against such violations,” the official said.
Data suggests that a significant indirect inflow of Chinese goods and investments through countries with which India has free trade agreements (FTAS), PTAS, or other bilateral commercial arrangements. It shows that total foreign direct investment (FDI) from China is minuscule, but many Indian firms have received Chinese investments.
Similarly, imports from China have registered a minor decline recently, but, at the same time, imports from Hong Kong and Singapore have surged, officials said.