Modi and Xi Jinping to discuss U.S. trade perfectionism during SCO
The Prime Minister of India – Narendra Modi would be meeting the President of People’s Republic of China – Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.
The SCO will be held from June 13-14, 2019, where India is expected to join China and Russia in voicing their reservations with regards to United States (U.S.) trade protectionism. This would be Modi’s first foreign visit outside South Asia in his second term.
SCO is a China-led Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance, founded in June 2002. The initial members included China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The alliance came into force on September 19, 2003. On June 9, 2017, India and Pakistan were also inducted in the alliance in a Summit at Astana, Kazakhstan. The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the supreme decision-making body in the SCO, which meets once in a year and adopts decisions and guidelines on all important matters of the organisation.
Military exercises are also regularly conducted among members to promote cooperation, fight against terrorism and to maintain regional peace and stability.
The key agenda of this year’s SCO Summit is the ongoing trade war between U.S. and China and its impact on the world economy. China has been regularly urging India and Russia to unite against the protectionist trade measures adopted by the President of U.S. – Donald Trump.
Speaking on occasion, one of the officials of SCO said, “The leaders of these nations could call for joint resistance to any manifestations of unilateral protectionism and active cooperation with a view to forming a global economy of a new type and strengthening the multilateral trade system that is inclusive, transparent, non-discriminatory and based on rules.”
Talking about Indo-China relations, the Vice Minister, Department of Foreign Affairs in China – Zhang Hanhui said, “President Xi and Prime Minister Modi are good friends. They had very successful informal summit at Wuhan last year.”
He said the Wuhan Summit, held between India and China in April 2018, provided the strategic guidance for the development of Indio-China ties, paving the way for long lasting relations and stable growth of both the nations.
For the records, the trade friction between U.S. and China has started impacting the Chinese economy. Though the exports for May rose 1.1% from a year earlier, there was a decline in imports.
Donald Trump wants China to reduce the massive trade deficit which reached U.S. $ 539 billion last year. He also wants China to workout verifiable measures for the protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), technology transfer and more access to American goods to the Chinese markets.
Besides, India is not very happy with U.S. after the latter announced that it is ending special trade privilege, which was granted to India in 1976, for exporting goods to U.S., without any duty. China now believes that since India is also facing a similar issue, it may join hands with them in raising a unified voice against U.S.
