Silence will only embolden the bully: Chinese Ambassador on U.S. tariffs

China will “firmly stand” with India to uphold World Trade Organisation principles, said Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong, taking direct aim at the U.S. for imposing 50% tariffs on Indian goods.

In a speech about the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and leaders of Central Asia, Pakistan, Iran and Belarus will be hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Ambassador Xu was particularly sharp on the “trade and tariff wars” that he said had disrupted the multilateral trading system, and referred to the U.S. as a “bully”.

The comments by a diplomat in India about a third country were unusual, possibly indicating that the SCO Summit in Tianjin on September 1 will be critical of the U.S.’s actions.

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“The United States has long benefited greatly from free trade, but now it is using tariffs as a bargaining chip to demand exorbitant prices from various countries,” Mr. Xu said at an event, organised by two Delhi-based think-tanks Chintan Research Foundation and the Centre for Global India Insights, entitled “SCO Summit & Resetting India-China relations”.

Referring to U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of 50% tariffs on Indian goods, which include 25% penalty tariffs for the import of Russian oil, due to go into place next week, Mr. Xu said that China “firmly opposes” the move.

While the Chinese Foreign Ministry has opposed the U.S.’s reciprocal tariffs and China imposed counter-tariffs on the U.S., this is the first such unequivocal support from China over the tariffs imposed on India.

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“In the face of such acts, silence or compromise only emboldens the bully. China will firmly stand with India to uphold the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core,” Mr. Xu continued.

Making a pitch for better India-China ties after the four-year military standoff at the Line of Actual Control, the Chinese Ambassador pointed to the improvement in ties over the past 10 months since the Modi-Xi meeting in Kazan in October 2024, pointing to many more visas and high-level engagements as well as the re-opening of the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra. He also said that bilateral trade in 2025 had already crossed $75 billion, indicating a 10% rise from the previous year.

To a question about India’s concerns over cross-border terrorism and China’s support to Pakistan, Mr. Xu said that “not only China and India, Pakistan is also a victim of terrorism, so what we should do is to make joint efforts to fight against terrorism,” in comments that would not be viewed as positively by New Delhi.

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Mr. Xu’s speech was followed by comments from India’s former Ambassador to Russia Venkatesh Verma who said the SCO summit hosted by China was important for India to strengthen multipolarity in the region and to discuss counterterrorism, and would include India-China bilateral talks as well.

Former Army Chief General Manoj Naravane pointed to boundary resolution talks between Special Representatives NSA Ajit Doval and visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Delhi earlier this week that agreed to build on the 2005 agreement for the boundary as a positive move so the “irritant in the relationship can be set aside”. He said that he hoped once the task of delimitation of the boundary was completed, delineation and demarcation of the border would be completed quickly as well.

General Naravane, who was Army Chief when the Galwan clashes occurred in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed by PLA soldiers in 2020, said that while India-China ties had been tense over the past 60-70 years, the period marked only a “blip” in the longer timeline of more peaceful India-China civilisational ties.

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Speaking to journalists after the event, Mr. Xu said the 10-point consensus reached by Mr. Doval and Mr. Wang was important, adding that experts would now work on an “early harvest agreement for the proper management of border areas.”