Bilateral heavily titled in China’s favour, needs a reset: Foreign Secretary

New Delhi, Mar 01: The current bilateral trade with China at USD 78 billion is heavily tiled in its favour and this would need a reset, Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla said.

India on its part is simultaneously working on diversifying its sourcing to ensure a more resilient supply chain in the future, he also said.

He was speaking at the penultimate panel discussion titled 'India as Global Partner' at the fifth Asia Economic Dialogue (AED) 2021, jointly hosted by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Pune International Centre (PIC).

On the Indo-US relations, Shringla said that India had an element of continuity with the US and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had close relations with former presidents, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

"While China continues to be one of India's most important trade partners, the balance of trade is skewed in favour of the former. With recent disturbances in eastern Ladakh and the ongoing process of disengagement, there is introspection on our part in making our supply chain more resilient... a normal bilateral relationship with China is calibrated on peace and tranquillity on other fronts," the foreign secretary said.

"We are trying to work out details of various proposals that have come in. How we can work together in the Indo-Pacific? This included maritime security," he also said.