China-India should join hands to develop Asia: Chinese diplomat Tang Guocai

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Mumbai: There are a lot of things China and India can do together, said Tang Guocai, Consul General of China in Mumbai at a session with students of NMIMS. Without China and India joining hands, Asia cannot develop, he added.

Tang said, “China can be world factory and India can be world office. This is obvious, if we look at population, landscape, and the history of both countries.”

There is a cycle that the world economy is going through and it is the right time for rise or re-rise of China and India. “It is not only rise of China but of the east as well—is rise of India, Japan and other countries. These are countries that are overshadowed for centuries,” Tang said.

He stated that it should be India and China and not India or China. “Our civilisation has to enrich each other.” This diplomat added the trade between China and ASEAN countries is worth USD 400 billion.

“In case of India, it is close to 100 billion.” Tang stated, “We should be looking at USD 300 billion in coming years. There is great potential for India and China to grow.”

Commenting on trade dispute between the United States (US) and China, this former US diplomat said, “China-US trade dispute is called war by some. But it is a dispute.”

Tang gave his current position on this trade war, he said, “My current position about this dispute is that we do not want to fight this so called war.”

He continued, “We do not want to fight this trade war. We are not afraid to fight if that means safeguarding our interest. Third, we are confident that in the end, truth will prevail.”

China and European Union are the biggest trading partners. “Our trade with European Union is 2-3 billion more than US. But country wise, the trade between China and the US is the largest.”

The total trade volume of China (import and export) is USD 4.6 trillion and total volume of US-China trade is around USD 631 billion.

Commenting further about this trade dispute between both countries, Tang said such issues come up but until the time leaders of both countries do not show interest in negotiations, such issues cannot be sorted.

Taking a jibe at American president Donald Trump (without mentioning his name), Tang said, “There is not much you can do if negotiations takes place in Twitter.”