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New Delhi and Beijing cannot let differences turn into disputes: India’s ambassador to China
- Ambassador Vikram Misri has called on China to balance its US$60 billion trade deficit with India ‘before the issue becomes politically sensitive’
- He also says India will not take sides over its use of US-blacklisted Huawei, as ‘any decision taken over this will only be taken in our national interest’
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India and China must actively manage their differences so they do not get in the way of the Asian superpowers working together for global stability, India’s top diplomat in China said on Friday.
To emphasise his point, Ambassador Vikram Misri listed eight long-standing and new bilateral issues that required attention, including India’s almost US$60 billion trade deficit with China, cooperation on counterterrorism and a peaceful resolution to their border dispute.
“This trade imbalance is not economically sustainable in the long run,” said Misri at an Asia Society event in Hong Kong. “It is in our mutual interest to find workable solutions before the markets react in unpredictable ways and the issue becomes politically sensitive.”
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Frosty ties between two of the world’s largest economies have thawed in the past year following a 73-day military stand-off in the Himalayas in 2017, with Beijing seeking to forge closer ties with New Delhi amid its ongoing trade and tech war with the United States.
In May, Beijing dropped its long-held objections towards United Nations sanctions on Masood Azhar, the founder and leader of terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed, which was behind the suicide bombing of Indian soldiers that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war earlier this year.
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