China claims big increase in India trade but focuses on BRI irking Delhi

Trade between China and India in the first nine months this year reached $103.6 billion, up 14.6 percent year-on-year, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson claimed on Tuesday.

But simultaneously the spokesperson harped on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the Port City Colombo project and the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka that has adverse impact on India’s strategic interests in India Ocean Region.

“China and South Asian countries are friendly neighbors and development partners. Here are some examples I’d like to share to illustrate this point. China’s trade with South Asian countries nearly doubled compared with a decade ago and totaled $187.5 billion in 2021, up by over $50 billion than the pre-COVID number in 2019. In particular, trade between China and India in the first nine months this year reached $103.6 billion, up 14.6 percent year-on-year. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the Port City Colombo project and the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka and other connectivity cooperation projects are all making steady progress. The cultural and people-to-people exchanges between China and South Asian countries continue to expand. China’s Yunnan province alone has received nearly 2,000 international students from South Asia. China stands ready to work with South Asian countries to advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and implementation of the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, and achieve common development and progress with all countries in South Asia,” the spokesperson noted.
It may be pointed out that India has neither endorsed CPEC nor a party to BRI which violates the country’s sovereignty passing through PoK. New Delhi has maintained that BRI executed through opaque fashion has pushed countries towards debt trap.

According to trade data released by Chinese customs in October India and China bilateral trade crossed USD 100 billion for the second year in the first nine months of 2022 while India’s trade deficit climbed to over USD 75 billion,

China’s exports to India climbed to USD 89.66 billion, registering an increase of 31 per cent, data released by China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC) stated in October.

However, India’s exports till September stood at USD 13.97 billion, registering a decline of 36.4 per cent. As a result, the total trade deficit went up to over USD 75.69 billion.

Last year, the India-China bilateral trade hit a record high of over USD 125 billion crossing the USD 100 billion mark in a year.

Last year, China’s exports to India went up by 46.2 per cent to USD 97.52 billion while India’s exports to China grew by 34.2 per cent to USD 28.14 billion. The trade deficit for India stood at USD 69.38 billion in 2021.