Addressing the 2026 Chinese New Year Reception in New Delhi, Xu said India’s exports to China grew by 9.7 per cent last year, highlighting what he described as the vast potential of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries
India-China bilateral trade touched a record high of $155.6 billion in 2025, registering year-on-year growth of more than 12 per cent at a time the world is facing “growing changes and turbulence”, Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong said on Tuesday.
Addressing the 2026 Chinese New Year Reception in New Delhi, Xu said India’s exports to China grew by 9.7 per cent last year, highlighting what he described as the vast potential of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.
“In 2025, bilateral trade between China and India reached a record high of $155.6 billion,” the envoy said, adding that economic and trade cooperation had “reached new heights” and bilateral ties had “continued to improve”.
High-level engagement and post-standoff reset
Xu pointed to the meeting between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Tianjin last August, held on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, as a turning point in ties.
“Last August, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a successful meeting in Tianjin, which led China-India relations from ‘a reset and fresh start’ to a new level of improvement,” he said.
Since India and China ended the prolonged military face-off in the Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in October 2024, both sides have taken steps to stabilise ties and address the long-standing boundary dispute. The standoff, which lasted over four years, followed the deadly clash in Galwan Valley in June 2020 that killed 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops, pushing relations to their lowest point in six decades.
According to Xu, exchanges at multiple levels have become more frequent since the disengagement process began, and people-to-people contacts have gathered pace.
Visa resumption, flights restored, pilgrimages restart
India has resumed issuing tourist visas to Chinese citizens and that direct flights between the Chinese mainland and India have been restored, facilitating greater exchanges between the two peoples.
China had resumed the pilgrimage to a sacred mountain and holy lake in the Xizang region — a reference to the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra — with nearly 20,000 Indian pilgrims visiting the site.
“We are ready to enhance people-to-people exchanges with India, build more bridges of friendship and bring our peoples closer together,” Xu said, adding that Beijing stands ready to work with New Delhi to “uphold the important consensus that China and India are each other’s cooperation partner and development opportunity”.
Global governance, Brics and trade concerns
Facing a world of “growing changes and turbulence”, Xu said President Xi Jinping had proposed the Global Governance Initiative for a “more just and equitable global governance system”. He asserted that China practices “true multilateralism” and is committed to safeguarding the global free trade system and stable and unimpeded supply chains.
China also supports India’s presidency of Brics this year and is ready to strengthen multilateral coordination and work together to advance the development of the Global South, he said.
While trade volumes have scaled fresh highs, the Indian side has repeatedly flagged concerns over the widening trade imbalance and limited access to Chinese markets.
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