(TibetanReview.net, Apr13’25) – As US President Donald Trump’s tariffs target China much more severely than any other country, Beijing is acting with a “sense of urgency” about shoring up ties with its neighbours and other major trading partners of the US. But most of the other countries also targeted by Trump’s tariffs, including India, themselves have severe trade imbalances with Beijing.
This week saw the ruling Communist Party’s first central conference since 2013 dedicated to neighbourhood diplomacy, just days ahead of President Xi Jinping’s first overseas trip of the year – a Southeast Asian tour of Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia – reported the scmp.com Apr 12.
At the conference, Xi called for the “breaking [of] new ground” in China’s relations with neighbouring countries, which he said were at a “critical phase” amid global uncertainties, the report cited state news agency Xinhua as reporting on Apr 9.
Despite China’s ongoing territorial disputes with multiple countries – including Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam and India – an official statement published after the meeting claimed that relations with neighbouring countries were “at their best in modern times”, while entering “a critical phase of deep linkage between the regional landscape and the world changes”, the report noted. “It is necessary to view neighbouring regions through a global perspective.”
China would foster “an amicable, secure and prosperous neighbourhood”, using high-quality Belt and Road Initiative cooperative projects as the main platform and “seeking common ground while shelving differences”, it was stated to have added.
This week’s central conference was attended by all seven members of the party’s Politburo Standing Committee – just like the 2013 seminar on periphery diplomacy, convened shortly after Xi assumed power, the report noted.
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Meanwhile, Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was described by Chinese state media as a “positive message”, aimed at strengthening China-EU trade ties, reported the timesofindia.com Apr 10.
Also, China on Ap 11 called on the EU to join hands to resist “unilateral bullying” by the United States, referring to the 145% tariffs imposed by the US on imported Chinese goods and the 20% tax (suspended for 90 days after the EU retaliated) on goods from the bloc.
Besides, while commerce minister Wang Wentao declared that “China will fight to the end” against the US tariffs, he also reached out to Southeast Asian nations and held talks with ASEAN members, while Li met business leader.
However, the outreach is being met with mixed responses, the report noted. Australian PM Anthony Albanese, for example, brushed off calls for a united front, saying, “We stand on our own two feet.”
Australia has had a strained relationship with China since 2020, when it called for an independent probe into Covid-19’s origins — leading to Chinese trade restrictions, the report noted.
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With regard to India, China has sent feelers on addressing the former’s concerns on the trade deficit through higher imports of goods from it by removing tariff and non-tariff barriers, reported the hindustantimes.com Apr 11.
While India was doing all the talking on this issue previously with little response from Beijing, China has now signalled its intention to address the record $100 billion trade imbalance between the two countries in FY25, the report said, citing people close to the development. The move comes at a time when China is grappling with US tariffs of 145% on all Chinese goods, although smart phones, laptops, chips and other electronic goods and components have since been exempted from it.
This step follows China’s earlier call on India to join it in the fight against Tump’s tariffs. China enjoyed a trade surplus of more than $91 billion with India in the first 11 months of FY25. It is estimated this number may touch $100 billion for the full financial year 2024-25, the report noted.
India hasn’t taken any formal position on the matter as yet because such bilateral talks involve the principle of reciprocity. New Delhi fears that easing trade barriers bilaterally could further aggravate the dumping of Chinese goods in India, the report said, citing at least three Indian sources aware of the matter as saying, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Chinese move is also aimed at getting more access to the Indian market and to attract more investments from it in the face of Trump’s tariffs. Chinese ambassador Xu Feihong recently spoke of the possibility of China buying more Indian goods and attracting investments from Indian firms. In an interview with state-run Global Times just before Trump unveiled his reciprocal tariffs, Xu noted that India-China ties are at a crucial juncture and New Delhi should create a fair and transparent business climate for Chinese companies, the report noted.
However, India remains concerned that any easing of tariff and non-tariff barriers may benefit China more than India because it would allow direct imports of Chinese goods that are currently illegally routed through a third country with which India has a free trade agreement (FTA), such as India’s trade deal with the 10-member ASEAN bloc.
“China dominates global trade with about $1 trillion surplus at the expense of major economies such as the EU, the US, Japan and India. It adopts unfair means and resorts to predatory pricing through tacit subsidies to its exporters, aiming to kill competitors,” one source was quoted as saying.
“The trade deficit was the main reason why the US imposed 125% retaliatory tariffs on Chinese imports,” the source has added. With two-way trade in goods between the US and China worth $582.4 billion in 2024, US faced a deficit of $295.4 billion.