March 21, 2025 (EIRNS)—At the beginning of this week, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning described the two most populous nations in the world, China and India, as working on a “cooperative pas de deux between the dragon and the elephant.” Two days later, China’s Ambassador to India Xu Feihong chose another dance form to capture these efforts, headlining his March 19 article published in the print edition of the Times of India, “India-China Can Achieve a Dragon-Elephant Tango.” Xu outlined an economic strategy which he suggests could harness the complementary strengths of each of their economies to the benefit of both.
“Indian companies can enhance ‘Make in India’ by ‘investing in China,” he proposed, Global Times reports today about the ambassador’s article, accessible only to subscribers. Such a strategy could work, because China, “propelled by continuous advancements in technological innovation,” has become a world leader and “crucial hub” for the production and trade of intermediate goods, while India’s manufacturing, which has similarly seen rapid growth, is particularly strong in its output of finished products.
India’s significant demand for intermediate goods presents opportunities for India-China collaboration. China, with its “comprehensive industrial system, an expansive market and high-quality talent,” has lifted all restrictions on foreign investment in its manufacturing sector, Xu noted. “A strategy worth considering is [India] investing in the production of intermediate goods in China, taking advantage of China’s mature industrial ecosystem and its accumulated capabilities and strengths in producing these goods.
