Swadeshi Jagran Manch urges Prime Minister to withdraw MFN status from China

New Delhi, Mar 15: Reacting strongly to China blocking a resolution in the United Nations Security Council to declare Masood Azar a global terrorist, the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withdraw the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status from Beijing and impose restrictions on Chinese products coming into India.
Describing China’s action as “highly deplorable’’, the SJM said it was being seen as an act against global struggle on terrorism.
In a letter written to Mr Modi on Thursday, the SJM said, “The time has come to withdraw the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status from China, as your government has done in the case of Pakistan and impose further restrictions on Chinese products, especially in telecom, electronics, defense equipment citing security concerns. There is a need to make more effort to discourage Chinese imports.’’
“Not only people of India, even international community has criticised the action of China. This is the time to make use of all possible measures, diplomatic and economic, to make China conscious of the repercussions of its irresponsible action,’’ the letter, written by SJM’s All-India Co-convener, Ashwini Mahajan, said.
“As you are aware India has been importing more than 76 billion US dollars worth of goods from China and has been running huge trade deficit with China. This is impacting our economy in general and in manufacturing, in particular,’ the letter points out.
“It is appreciable that in the past, the government, under your leadership, has adopted various measures to curb Chinese imports by way of anti dumping duties, countervailing duties, increasing in tariffs, imposition of tariffs and invoking reciprocity clause to stop Chinese companies from taking infrastructure projects in India. Now the time has come to withdraw Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status from China,’’ it said.
Mr Mahajan said a research undertaken by SJM reveals that the average tariff being applied on Chinese imports is much lower than bound tariff rates on various commodities.
“The government needs to take immediate action to raise tariff duties on all Chinese imports to discourage Chinese imports,’’ he added.
Citing China’s trade war with the United States, the letter asserts that Beijing will realise the implication of its “unjust action’’ of protecting terrorists, and imposing restrictions on Chinese goods will help India’s fight against terrorism.