Ahead of Xi's visit, China seeks fair and convenient biz environment for its companies in India

Ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to India, China on Tuesday hoped that New Delhi will provide a more "fair, friendly and convenient" business environment for Chinese companies to operate in the country, asserting that both the Asian giants should forge greater cooperation to boost trade and investment.

The comments by Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong, in an interview to PTI, came amid the US asking leading countries to not allow Chinese telecom giant Huawei to roll its 5G mobile networks. India is set to carry out trials for 5G services mobile network and has not taken any decision yet on whether to allow Huawei in the trials.

Sun said there is huge potential for China and India to expand business and trade ties and both the countries should uphold free trade and jointly speak out against trade protectionism and unilateralism in the current situation of rising uncertainties in the "external environment".

China has been engaged in a bitter trade war with the US in the last few months.

"China encourages Chinese companies to invest in India and hopes that India will provide a more fair, friendly and convenient business environment for Chinese companies to operate in India," the ambassador said.

The US has already banned Huawei, the world leader in telecom equipment and the number two smartphone producer, over concerns of security.

The Chinese President is scheduled to arrive in Chennai on Friday afternoon to hold the second informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the coastal town of Mamallapuramon in Tamil Nadu. Both sides are expected to formally announce the dates of Xi's visit to India on Wednesday.

Sun said more than 1,000 Chinese companies are operating in India and they have increased their investment in industrial parks, e-commerce and other areas with a total investment of USD 8 billion, Without mentioning the timeframe, he said these companies created 200,000 local jobs in the country.

The Chinese envoy also said that both India and China should work together to promote regional economic integration and speed up negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP).

The RCEP, comprising 10-member ASEAN bloc and six other countries -- India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, is engaged in negotiations for a free trade pact