India-China ties can ease critical mineral supply woes: Prof Veeramani

C Veeramani, Professor and Director, Centre for Development Studies, on Wednesday, said that issues related to critical mineral supply chains between India and China can be addressed through negotiations and bilateral engagement.

It may have some short-term impact, but then China also needs India as much as India needs China, for their growth. They need the Indian market, a large market. This can be sorted out through negotiations and bilateral engagement between the two countries," Professor Veeramani told ANI.

He added that that larger geopolitical issues must be handled at the government level.

The larger geopolitical issues need to be tackled by the government, and already there are initiatives in terms of signing trade agreements. Efforts are on with the US, with EU there are efforts, recently we have reached an agreement with the UK. We should be more in agreement with other countries to address such problems," he said.

In early April, China announced a decision to implement export controls on certain rare earth-related items, which is expected to push a global supply shortage, including in India.