China-India should be driving force for multi-polarity, economic globalisation: Chinese envoy

Asserting that rifts in the international community have "deepened" as "some countries have built walls and breached contracts paralysing the WTO", Chinese envoy Sun Weidong said on Thursday China and India should act as a driving force for multi-polarity and economic globalisation.

Addressing the China-India Youth Dialogue, he said China-India relations have achieved stable and sound development and tapped deeper into the potentials for bilateral cooperation.

"In the meantime, challenges and risks are on the rise. Unilateralism, hegemonism and power politics are haunting the world. There are more frequent use or threats of force," Sun Weidong said.

"Protectionism and imbalanced development have become more pronounced, and non-traditional security threats such as climate change continue to spread. Some countries have built walls, made withdrawals and breached contracts, which paralysed the World Trade Organisation and deepened rifts in the international community," he said.

China and the US, the world's two largest economies, are locked in a bitter trade battle which has hurt businesses and weighed on the global economy.

"Both China and India are developing countries, each with more than one billion population. We should act as the driving force for multi-polarity and economic globalisation," the Chinese envoy said.

"We need to jointly safeguard free trade and multilateralism, seize the opportunities in the new round of scientific and technological revolution, advocate exchanges between different civilizations, establish a community with a shared future for mankind, and join hands to build a better world for peace, development and prosperity," he added.

Offering some suggestions for the youth, Sun Weidong said "Actively make proposals and suggestions; strengthen cultural and people-to-people exchanges; enrich our cooperation; encourage engagements and exchanges among young people and enhance education cooperation.