The Chinese market is open to all countries, including India, China’s new envoy to India, Xu Feihong, has said, maintaining that Beijing understands New Delhi’s concerns over its burgeoning trade deficit and is willing to address this issue by facilitating more Indian companies to tap the Chinese market.Bthe trade deficit, a major concern of India for years, stood at USD 99.2 billion in 2023 in the overall bilateral trade of USD 136.2 billion.In 2022, the trade deficit crossed the USD 100 billion mark by touching USD 101 billion for the first time. India has been periodically flagging concerns and pressing China to open its IT and pharma sectors besides grains, its major export potential sectors. In an interaction with the PTI and China’s CGTN-TV before he headed to New Delhi to take up his posting, Xu reiterated Beijing’s often repeated assertions that it is not China’s intention to seek a trade surplus.
“The Chinese market is open to all countries, including India. We have sent many trade promotion delegations to India to buy Indian products, and we would like to see more marketable Indian products enter the Chinese market. We are ready to provide greater facilitation for India’s participation at the China International Import Expo, the China-South Asia Expo, the Canton Fair and other platforms”, he said.