Indian Commerce secretary Rita Teaotia
Indian Commerce secretary Rita Teaotia

NEW DELHI: Commerce secretary Rita Teaotia today said that India is not allergic to goods coming in from China as long as the trade is legitimate.

“We do not have any problems with goods from China being imported as these are required as intermediates to manufacturing… legitimate trade has to move,” she said while launching a report on India-Myanmar trade released by external affairs ministry’s think tank, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS).

Noting that there is sometimes angst when India is compared with China, she said: “India is not China…We work on strategy of partnership… not gain at the cost of other countries.”

Adding that India’s approach may look timid, but it can’t choose to replicate what others do.

“We want our neighbors to prosper,” she said and added that a road-map needs to be prepared to allow more goods through land not just from Myanmar but also from other neighbouring countries including the entire ASEAN region.