Latest news with #Dragon-ElephantTango
Time of India
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
‘Dragon-Elephant Tango': China signals shift in ties with India, says both can reshape global order by ignoring US
China has described External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar's visit to Beijing as a step toward resetting bilateral ties, but cautioned that lasting progress will require trust and sustained effort. Jaishankar is in China to attend the SCO Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Tianjin and is also holding bilateral talks in Beijing. This is his first visit to China in five years. Jaishankar's visit seen as diplomatic breakthrough In an editorial published in The Global Times , China's mouthpiece, it highlighted that the five-year gap since the last Indian foreign minister's visit shows how abnormal diplomatic ties had become. However, the paper said Jaishankar's presence, following last year's Kazan meeting between Indian and Chinese leaders, marks a 'fresh restart' and a positive effort to restore communication mechanisms. China calls for mutual trust and cooperation The editorial quoted Chinese Vice President Han Zheng saying that 'it is the right choice for both sides to be partners contributing to each other's success and realize the ' Dragon-Elephant Tango .'' Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the two countries should 'build mutual trust instead of suspicion, pursue cooperation instead of rivalry, and support each other's success instead of wearing each other down.'. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Join new Free to Play WWII MMO War Thunder War Thunder Play Now Undo There is also talks for resuming direct flights between both the countries. Indian tone more pragmatic, says Global Times The paper noted a shift in Indian public and diplomatic messaging. It said Indian commentary around the visit has used phrases like 'on the mend,' 'continued thawing,' and 'back on track,' indicating a more practical and optimistic approach compared to previous years. Live Events The Global Times said the unresolved boundary dispute remains the most sensitive and complicated issue. It described the border tensions as a source of misunderstanding and mistrust in India and said both sides need to build a reliable border trust mechanism and restart high-level strategic dialogue. The paper also blamed the United States for trying to create divisions between India and China. Multilateral platforms offer room for cooperation Despite tensions, the paper said cooperation between India and China through multilateral platforms like SCO and BRICS can continue. It said existing mechanisms within these forums could help address global challenges and contribute to a more stable Asia-Pacific region. The Global Times said, 'Strategic mutual trust cannot be achieved through a single meeting or a single joint statement; it must be gradually built up through long-term, sustained, and measurable interactions.' It added that 'enduring political will, pragmatic consultative mechanisms, and most importantly, mutual respect for each other's core concerns' are necessary. China urges India to look beyond misperceptions The editorial concluded by urging India to view China from the lens of its own development needs. It said, 'the more the two countries can eliminate misjudgments and hedge against external risks through sustained dialogue, the better positioned they will be to take the initiative to stand at the forefront in the reshaping of the global order.'
India Gazette
3 days ago
- Politics
- India Gazette
Update: China, India should adhere to good-neighborliness, friendship: Chinese FM
BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Monday that China and India should adhere to the direction of good-neighborliness and friendship, and find a way for mutual respect and trust, peaceful coexistence, common development and win-win cooperation. Wang made the remarks when holding talks with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Beijing. As two major Eastern civilizations and major emerging economies living adjacent to each other, the essence of China-India relations lies in how to live in harmony and achieve mutual success, said Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. Last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached important consensus during their meeting in Kazan, pointing out the direction for the improvement and development of China-India relations, Wang said. Wang called on both sides to aim high, plan for the long term, adhere to the direction of good-neighborliness and friendship, and realize the "Dragon-Elephant Tango." Wang said that this year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and India, and the sustained improvement and growth of bilateral relations have not come easily, making them more valuable to cherish. Noting the relationship between the two countries is not directed against any third party, nor should it be disrupted by any third party, Wang called on both sides to build mutual trust rather than suspicion, pursue cooperation rather than competition, and seek mutual success rather than mutual attrition. China is willing to work with India to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, consistently enhance political mutual trust, meet each other halfway to expand exchanges and cooperation, act with consideration for the bigger picture to properly manage differences, and strengthen coordination via multilateral platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), to promote the sustained, healthy, and steady development of China-India relations, Wang said. Wang said that President Xi proposed the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, and Prime Minister Modi advocated that "the world is one family," noting that these concepts are interrelated. Both sides support multilateralism and hope that the international order will develop in a more just and reasonable direction, Wang said. He added that China is willing to enhance communication and coordination with India, and jointly safeguard the multilateral trading system, the stability of the global industrial and supply chains, and an international environment of openness and cooperation. China is willing to work with India to promote an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, and safeguard the common interests of the Global South to promote regional peace, stability, development and prosperity, Wang said. For his part, Jaishankar said that the Kazan meeting between the leaders of the two countries has provided important guidance for India-China relations, with bilateral exchanges and cooperation across various fields being normalized. He also expressed the appreciation for China's facilitation of the resumption of Indian pilgrimages to China's Xizang. Noting that India and China are development partners, not rivals, the Indian foreign minister said India is willing to view its relations with China from a long-term perspective, take the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties as an opportunity to focus on common interests, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, enhance people-to-people exchanges, and jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the border regions. He called on both sides to work on positive factors in the bilateral relationship, so that the differences will not escalate into disputes, and competition will not turn into conflict. As India and China are important neighbors, populous countries, and major global economies, their relations carry regional and global significance, said Jaishankar. He added that India adheres to strategic autonomy and pursues an independent foreign policy. India stands ready to strengthen coordination and cooperation with China at the multilateral level to promote a multipolar world, Jaishankar noted. He also said that India fully supports China in successfully hosting the SCO summit as its rotating chair.
The Guardian
05-04-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
China needs friends in Trump's trade war. But Xi may have to go it alone
China's leader, Xi Jinping, says he is prepared to dance if it means sidestepping some of the worst of Donald Trump's trade tariffs. Last week he sent a letter to India's president, Droupadi Murmu, urging her to join him in a tango to celebrate 75 years of bilateral trade. Xi said it was 'the right choice' for the two countries to be 'partners of mutual achievement and realise the 'Dragon-Elephant Tango'', which, he added, 'fully serves the fundamental interests of both countries and their peoples.' Beijing is on a wide-ranging charm offensive, aimed at redirecting its exports away from the US to other willing destinations as Washington erects trade barriers. Tariffs on China imposed by the US president amounting to 20% earlier this year were more than doubled last week to 54% and an effective average rate of 65%, raising the cost of Chinese imports to a level that many analysts believe will be uncompetitive. The response from Beijing was swift. A sell-off on financial markets intensified after China's finance ministry said it would respond in kind, adding 34% to the tariff on all US goods from 10 April. Investors worry that a recession in the US cannot be ruled out as the trade war intensifies and companies hunker down, cutting investment and jobs to weather the storm. Fears that China could embark on a campaign of dumping goods or increasing subsidies to help domestic firms win foreign contracts are growing. There are also concerns that the US, already unpopular in much of the developing world, will foster a realignment of global trade that favours authoritarian regimes, including China's. BYD, which has leapfrogged Tesla to produce the world's most popular electric cars, is looking to expand in Europe, despite separate tariffs imposed by the EU and UK limiting European sales. Former UK Treasury minister Jim O'Neill says closer trade ties with Beijing should be part of a realignment that is inevitable following Trump's 'kamikaze' tariff initiative. Lord O'Neill, a former Goldman Sachs chief economist, said that G7 countries could take the lead in this, but that India and China should be included too. 'It's important to realise that the rest of the G7, except the US, collectively are the same size as the United States. And I would have thought a very sensible thing to be doing is having a serious conversation with the other members about actually lowering trade barriers between ourselves,' he said. China, in fact, sends more goods to the EU than the US, and the export trend away from the US has accelerated since Trump's first period in the White House, even when the Covid-related surge in exports of Chinese goods is discounted. Whereas China sends about $440bn (£340bn) of goods to the US, it exports close to $580bn to the EU's 27 members. Christopher Dent, a professor of economics and international business at Edge Hill University business school, said there might be a 'bigger picture' that Brussels thinks is worth pursuing, in a fundamental break with the US. 'Trump's aggressive trade policy will most likely compel other countries to form stronger trade clubs and alliances among themselves. 'The EU and China, for example, might look to resolve or put aside their own trade disputes with each other and champion the cause of trade multilateralism and liberalism along with willing others, such as the UK, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia, lowering their tariffs and signing new kinds of trade agreements – a trend that is already evident.' The EU's trade and economic security commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, indicated that talks could take more than a few weeks or months. He said after a meeting with Chinese vice-premier He Lifeng last weekend that there could only be a more open relationship if trade flows and investment were 'symmetrical'. The UK is in a particularly tight spot. It managed to escape with the lowest level of tariffs imposed by Trump, 10%, and is hopeful of securing a deal with Washington. Yet it cannot be seen to succumb to Beijing's advances. Like others, Britain risks being engulfed by the flood of cheap Chinese goods, from electric cars to steel, that will soon wash up on its shores, threatening jobs. Speaking at a recent Chatham House event, the UKbusiness secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said the 'majority of UK China trade is not in particularly contentious areas'. 'We've got to engage with a fifth of the world economy. The Conservative view, which is to just pretend China does not exist – I'm sorry, I don't think that's realistic whatsoever.' He said there were 'areas we can work more closely', but added there was no suggestion of returning to the so-called golden age pursued by David Cameron. 'Pork exports would be an obvious example,' he said. 'Whichever way we go on these areas, there is nothing to be gained from just pretending China does not exist.' John Denton, head of the International Chambers of Commerce, likens the onset of these tariff wars to the oil shock of the 1970s, such is its seismic importance. 'The overriding theme is the battle for supremacy between China and the US for global trade dominance,' he said. Denton is among the senior international business leaders imploring politicians to resist retaliatory action, to prevent a death spiral of punitive import charges that push up inflation and crash the world economy. He is worried that the tariffs pose an existential crisis for Asean (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), which has become a conduit for Chinese firms exporting to the US. This was noticed in Washington, hence tariffs adding a 46% surcharge on imports from Vietnam and 49% on those from Cambodia. US trainer-maker Nike, which manufactures 50% of its shoes in Vietnam, has been caught in the crossfire. Its shares slumped by 15% after the tariffs were applied. But Chinese-owned clothes and shoe factories based in both countries are the chief targets. Mary Lovely, a trade expert at the Peterson Institute in Washington, said most American workers would not aspire to work in a clothing or shoe factory, which is why they had been outsourced to east Asia. 'Are we supposed to knit our own knickers?' she asked an audience at the Brookings Institution in the US capital. 'I mean, really, what is a good job for an American worker? 'Reducing the dependence on China was a good thing, but we totally whacked it [with these tariffs].' Vietnam has taken steps to convince the US it is serious about reducing its trade surplus, which reached $123.5bn last year, and the third highest gap for the US, behind China and Mexico. Hanoi expects the economy to grow by 8% this year, even though exports account for 90% of economic output and the US accounts for 25% of that total. It declined to change the outlook after Trump's announcement, preferring instead to dispatch a team to Washington to plead with officials. Meanwhile, with regard to India, Xi said the two countries were both ancient civilisations, major developing countries and important members of the 'global south' standing at a critical stage in their respective modernisation efforts. Murmu refused to reply to his letter in kind. In a short response, she noted that together they were home to a third of the world's population, and that a stable, predictable and friendly relationship would benefit both countries and the world. It was a message widely seen in Indian business circles as a way to sidestep many longstanding political and economic issues. Indians are sceptical that there is much mileage in talks when the trade balance is almost nine to one in China's favour. In part, this is due to severe restrictions on Indian imports of pharmaceuticals, IT services, basmati rice and beef. There is also a long-running border dispute in the north of India that ignited into conflict in 2020 and remains unresolved. Worse before it gets better But for China, it looks like the situation is only going to get worse. Trump plans to phase out a 'de minimis' exemption next month that allows packages with a value of $800 or less to be shipped to the US from China duty free, and is central to the business model of companies such as fast fashion firm Shein and household goods supplier Temu. Trump is also expected to apply additional tariffs on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, targeting China and affiliates in neighbouring countries, before deciding how to punish firms that trade in rare earth metals sourced from China. The White House has bipartisan support when it applies a tourniquet to China, especially the communist state's carmakers and tech companies, which are widely considered to be leapfrogging US manufacturers to become global leaders. China's full-throttle shift to become a tech powerhouse – a move exemplified by the rise of telecoms giant Huawei and AI firm DeepSeek – has also spooked many potential export destinations, including Europe, which fear the Moscow-friendly nation is as keen on harnessing personal data and industrial secrets as it is hard cash. Christopher Beddor, deputy China research director at Beijing-based Gavekal Research, said China had few friends it could rely on to take goods previously destined for the US market. In an initiative that parallels the Murmu letter, Chinese government officials have also toured European capitals to say that China, unlike the US, still believes in the rules-based international trading system, giving them a common cause. 'But I have been interested to see how there is still lots of resistance to the idea of China as a reliable partner,' said Beddor. Maybe a renewed effort to attract foreign firms to build factories inside China will help ease tensions. Last month, China's second-in-command, Li Qiang, urged countries to open their markets to combat 'rising instability and uncertainty' at a business forum in Beijing attended by the bosses of Europe and the US's largest companies. Ola Källenius, the chair of Mercedes, was in attendance with Laurent Freixe, chief executive of Nestlé and bosses from Siemens, BMW, Saudi Aramco, Rio Tinto, and UK bank Standard Chartered. AstraZeneca's chief executive, Pascal Soriot, was also in the audience with Tim Cook of Apple and Cristiano Amon of chip designer Qualcomm. Li urged them to increase their investment in China based on promises that the world's second largest economy would buck the global economic slowdown that was sure to follow a further round of tariffs. A rapprochement with the US looks unlikely. If anything, the Trump administration wants to ringfence Beijing, preventing America's consumers from buying any of its goods unless a huge surcharge is applied. Trump's planned tax cuts, due to be announced before the end of the year, are paid for with the revenue from tariff charges, though there are wildly differing forecasts about how much will be raised. Trump's comments that he is open to bargaining away some tariffs also complicates the picture. The US president said after announcing his latest measures that a deal to secure US ownership of TikTok could reduce China's tariff burden. But the deal is subject to legal wrangling and it's not clear when China might be ready to make concessions. Beddor says the US's stance and a lack of international partners will force Xi to look inwards for extra sales and growth. 'Chinese exports into the US are about 2% of its overall economic output, and so Beijing will think that is manageable,' Beddor said. US imports of Chinese goods reached $438.9bn in 2024, or 2.3% of China's $19tn economy, while the trade surplus hit $295bn, a 5.8% increase from 2023. 'It is a much bigger problem when Trump's tariffs create a global downturn. That is a different order of magnitude,' Beddor said. 'And for China, if there is a global slowdown, there is nowhere for Beijing to go other than to the Chinese consumer.' He said Xi had already signalled that an economic stimulus package outlined at the beginning of the year in response to tariff threats could be enlarged. 'China's policymakers are now almost certain to ramp up stimulus efforts in the coming months, and will probably introduce more fiscal measures later in the year. 'The fiscal stimulus this year may be well beyond anything we've seen in the past decade.'
Russia Today
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
China invites India to a ‘Dragon-Elephant tango'
Chinese President Xi Jinping, on Tuesday, called for China and India to strengthen their cooperation, comparing their relationship to a 'Dragon-Elephant dance.' The statement came as the two countries marked the 75th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations, with presidents of both nations exchanging congratulatory messages. Xi pointed out that China and India are both ancient civilizations, major developing countries, and key members of the Global South, with both currently at a crucial stage in their modernization efforts, according to an official statement released by Beijing. 'The development of China-India relations demonstrates that it is the right choice for China and India to be partners of mutual achievement and realize the 'Dragon-Elephant Tango,' which fully serves the fundamental interests of both countries and their peoples' , Xi said. The Chinese leader also expressed his commitment to jointly maintain peace and stability in mutual border regions. The statement quoted Indian President Murmu suggesting that a 'stable, predictable, and friendly' bilateral relationship between the two nations that are 'home to one-third of the world's population' would benefit both countries and the world. Earlier in the day, Chinese Ambassador Xu Feihong told the Global Times that the ties between the two countries are 'at a crucial stage' and that Beijing is 'willing to work with the Indian side to strengthen practical cooperation in trade and other areas, and to import more Indian products that are well-suited to the Chinese market.' 'We also welcome more Indian enterprises to cross the Himalayas and seek opportunities for cooperation in China, sharing the dividends of China's development,' he stated. Great pleasure to join Foreign Secretary @VikramMisri and friends from all walks of life to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of #China -India diplomatic relations. I firmly believe that under the strategic guidance of two leaders and with the joint efforts of… — Xu Feihong (@China_Amb_India) April 1, 2025 The remarks come against the backdrop of efforts by the two nations to reset ties after the 2020 Galwan Valley clash along the disputed Himalayan border, in which soldiers from both sides were killed. After extended military and diplomatic discussions, New Delhi and Beijing announced in October last year that they had reached an agreement on disengagement from areas of tension and would work towards normalizing their relations. READ MORE: This gathering showed why global power is shifting to the South The announcement was made on the eve of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, where Xi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a comprehensive bilateral meeting , marking their first such engagement in almost five years. Modi, in a recent podcast with Lex Fridman, stressed the importance of dialogue over discord, acknowledging that differences between neighboring countries are inevitable but should not be allowed to escalate into disputes. The latest statements also come as both India and China weigh the potential impact of reciprocal tariffs that US President Donald Trump vowed would come into effect on April 2. New Delhi is considering allowing further inflows from China as a countermeasure to the upcoming tariffs, Indian Express reported last month. While China has hit back at the US, suggesting that 'if war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war, or any other type of war, we're ready to fight till the end.' New Delhi's response to Trump's tariff pressure was rather cautious. India and the US conducted the first round of trade agreement talks last week, stating that both nations aim to finalize the first tranche of the deal by fall 2025. READ MORE: India refuses to be America's attack dog against China
