People shop for decorative lights from Turkey during the Punjab International Trade Expo (PITEX) in Amritsar, India's northern state Punjab, on Dec 2, 2021. International traders participate in the PITEX 2021 here from Dec 2 to Dec 6.Photo:Xinhua

China has serious concerns over India's recent suppression of Chinese firms and their products, and India is urged to improve business environment and treat all foreign investors in a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory manner, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Thursday.

Gao Feng, a spokesperson of the ministry, made the remarks during a routine press conference in Beijing, after Indian tax authorities carried out inspections of a number of Chinese enterprises in the country on Tuesday, in addition to blocking 54 apps developed by Chinese firms on so-called "security threats" earlier this week.

Indian tax authorities launched a broad investigation into Chinese companies operating in India on taxation starting in December, such as Chinese mobile phone companies Oppo and Xiaomi.

According to a report by NDTV, an Indian media outlet, the tax department conducted searches at multiple Huawei outlets in the country on Tuesday, including offices in Delhi, Gurugram (Haryana) and Bengaluru, Karnataka.

Huawei told the Global Times on Thursday that the company will fully cooperate with relevant Indian regulators as it is confident the firm's operations in India are compliant with all its laws and regulations.

Earlier this week, the Information and Technology Ministry in India blocked 54 more apps developed by Chinese firms including Tencent and Alibaba. Since June 2020, India has blocked more than 300 Chinese apps.

India has been adopting an economic strategy to "decouple its economy from China's" while trying to obtain some benefits from the US' Indo-Pacific strategy, which is the major reason for India's latest assault on Chinese enterprises, Liu Zongyi, secretary-general of the Research Center for China-South Asia Cooperation at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told the Global Times on Thursday. 

Gao said that India's suppression of Chinese firms has seriously damaged their legitimate rights and interests, and as a result, foreign investors, including Chinese companies, are becoming increasingly concerned about the investment climate there.

"Foreign investors have created a large number of local jobs in India and made contributions to its economic development," Gao said, expressing his hope that India would improve the business environment and treat all foreign investors, including Chinese enterprises, in a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory manner.

Liu noted that India's trade still heavily relies on China. In 2021, bilateral trade between India and China reached $125.7 billion, up 43 percent year-on-year, showing the strong resilience and great potential of bilateral economic and trade cooperation. 

Gao said that China hopes India can take practical measures to maintain the good momentum of bilateral cooperation for the mutual benefit of the two peoples.


Global Times