Chinese strategic experts on Wednesday said they expected the new government in New Delhi — if Narendra Modi is elected to power on May 16 — to pave the way for greater foreign investment from China and closer trade relations.
“There is the possibility that [Modi] will expand Sino-India economic and trade cooperation and seek more Chinese investment,” said Fu Xiaoqiang, a scholar with the influential China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.
Mr. Modi’s track record in Gujarat showed that he “places emphasis on infrastructure development, attracting investment and the establishment of special economic zones,” Mr. Fu was quoted as saying by the Global Times , a tabloid known for its hardline views published by the Communist Party’s official newspaper, People’s Daily .
The perception among Many Chinese scholars is that India has been wary of allowing Chinese investment in sectors such as telecom, where Huawei and ZTE have already established their presence in India.
Hu Zhiyong, a scholar at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told the newspaper that trade imbalance — which exceeded $30 billion last year, in China’s favour — was being widened by India’s “politicisation of economic issues.”
“Compared with capital from the U.S., Japan and South Korea, India has taken a more cautious and restrictive policy toward Chinese investment,” he said. “There are also so-called security concerns over Chinese investment, which has led to denials of major investment by telecom giant Huawei in the country.”
While the deficit “could not be reversed in the short term…, once Mr. Modi takes office, he is expected to exhibit some flexibility in economic policy with China, but will also create some new problems on bilateral trade frictions,” Mr. Hu said.
