China’s Ambassador to India Xu Feihong has urged stronger trade and investment ties with New Delhi, framing deeper cooperation as essential to building an ‘orderly multipolar world’ and advancing the rise of the Global South.

Ambassador Xu urged both nations to seize the opportunity to expand cooperation. “It is high time for China and India to do big business, big investment and big commitment,” he wrote on X.

The envoy emphasised the need for a collaborative global order, stating, “Together, we should advocate an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalisation, firmly oppose any form of tariff and trade wars, jointly uphold the multilateral trading system, safeguard the common interests of developing countries, and contribute to the collective rise of the Global South.”

Xu noted the steady growth in bilateral trade, with goods trade between the two countries reaching $ 88 billion in the first seven months of this year, a 10.5 per cent increase from the previous year.

He added that China is ready to “strengthen the synergy of development strategies and share experience in modernisation with India.”

Citing growing people-to-people exchanges, Xu revealed that Chinese diplomatic missions in India have issued over 240,000 visas to Indian citizens since the start of the year.

He also highlighted that China has resumed Indian pilgrimages to Kangrinboqe and Mapam Yuco in the Xizang Autonomous Region, while India resumed tourist visa issuance to Chinese citizens.

The call for closer ties comes at a time when India-China relations are said to be at their best in the past five years.

Significant efforts to improve ties have followed the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan, Russia in October 2024.

This was followed by visits by expert delegations, high-level officials and government representatives aimed at resolving the border dispute along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh.

More recently, Modi and Xi met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin, China.

During his recent meeting with Modi, President Xi described the relationship as one of shared responsibility and mutual benefit.

“We both shoulder the historical responsibility of improving the well-being of our two peoples, promoting the solidarity and rejuvenation of developing countries, and propelling the progress of human society,” Xi said.

“It is the right choice for both to be friends who have good neighbourly and amicable ties, partners who enable each other's success, and to have the dragon and the elephant dance together,” he added.

Xi stressed the importance of a long-term vision for bilateral engagement. “Both sides need to approach and handle our relationship from strategic heights and long-term perspective so as to realise the sustained, sound and steady development of our bilateral ties,” he said.

Modi told Xi that India was committed to improving ties with China and discussed reducing India's burgeoning bilateral trade deficit of nearly $99.2 billion, while emphasising the need to maintain peace and stability at their disputed border after a clash in 2020 triggered a five-year military standoff.