India, China sets trade target of $55-bn

Kolkata: Bilateral trade between India and China will reach $55 billion by the end of December, surpassing the $60-billion target for 2010, Chinese Consul-General Mao Siwei said.

At a seminar here organised by the Asiatic Society Mao said, during the visit of Prime Minister Manomohan Singh to China, the two countries had set a trade target of $60 billion which would be surpassed.

Recalling External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's recent announcement in Guangzhou that China had become India's largest trading partner, Mao said bilateral trade was a driving force behind Sino-Indian relations.

'I believe that the surge in bilateral trade between India and China is not a chance phenomenon, but the logical result of mutual complementaries in the economic strength of our two countries,' he said.

Pointing out that Indo-China relations saw a thaw since the 80s after the coldness of the 60s and 70s, Mao said a big leap had been made over the past decade.

'My understanding is that the basic consensus that both China and India do not consider each other as a security threat has paved the way for the development of bilateral relations over the last 10 years,' the envoy said.

He said, however, some 'outstanding issues' needed to be resolved in further strengthening the Indo-China ties.

Blaming the media for maintaining a negative picture of China, he said reports about Chinese incursion into the Indian territory were sensationalised.

'There is a dispute because there is no demarcation of the border.'