India - China: A Thaw in the Making
Asia News Agency
The resumption of the Mansarovar Yatra after a five-year hiatus is a small beginning towards normalising the complex relationship between India and China. The pilgrimage to Mount Kailash holds special significance for Hindus, Buddhists and Jains. A few hundred Indians have been undertaking this pilgrimage every year since 1981 — beginning with 59 pilgrims in 1981 and rising to 919 in 2017.
The Mansarovar Yatra was suspended in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and it was further affected by the chill in Indo-China ties following the confrontation between the two armies at Galwan in Ladakh. The pilgrimage is being resumed as part of comprehensive measures agreed upon by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Russia. As part of this agreement, 750 pilgrims will travel to Tibet in August.
Will help revive people-to-people contacts: Though the resumption of the Mansarovar Yatra alone cannot restore trust between the world’s two most populous countries and two major economies, The Asian Age writes “it will help revive people-to-people contacts, thereby improving understanding between them. Over thousands of years of their existence, India and China — two ancient civilisations — dominated the world, yet they never fought each other because they operated in their own separate spheres.
“For thousands of years, India never feared China’s supremacy. Similarly, China did not worry about India when the entire Southeast virtually became a part of the Indosphere…”
Chinese firms turn to Indian exporters to help fill US orders
Some China-based firms hit hard by US tariffs are reaching out to Indian exporters to fill orders on their behalf and help them retain their American customers.
At the Canton Fair that runs through May 5 in Guangzhou — the world’s biggest trade fair — several Indian firms were approached by Chinese companies to supply goods to their US customers, said Ajay Sahai, director general of Federation of Indian Export Organizations. In return for the sales, the Indian firms would pay a commission to the Chinese businesses, he said.
Most Chinese exports to the US have been hit with levies of 145%. In contrast, goods shipped from India to the US are currently charged a 10% tax, which will be raised to 26% in July if US President Trump follows through with his reciprocal tariffs after a 90-day pause ends.
Many Chinese exporters targeted by Trump’s tariffs in his first term turned to Southeast Asian countries, setting up factories in Vietnam or shipping goods to places like Thailand, where they were then exported to the US. This time around, with Trump hitting countries like Vietnam with 46% reciprocal tariffs, Indian exporters may see more orders diverted their way.
Unlike Southeast Asia, though, India’s government maintains restrictions on Chinese investment, making it difficult for firms to set up operations in the country or ship goods through India to the US. Indian firms at the Canton Fair were instead approached to supply goods to US companies under the brands of the Chinese firms, or co-branded with the Indian firms, Sahai said.
Most of the queries came in sectors like hand tools, electronics and home appliances, Sahai said, adding there are hopes some of the US customers may directly start negotiating with Indian suppliers. The commission paid to the Chinese firms would be negotiated between the buyers and suppliers, Sahai said.
It’s uncertain how much the US might allow the Indian companies to fill the gap left by Chinese firms as Washington tries to keep pressure on Beijing to make concessions.
