Illustration: Chen Xia/Global Times

Indian media recently reported that in May 2025, India's net foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows plummeted by 99 percent month‑on‑month and plunged 98 percent year‑on‑year. This news has once again sparked fresh international debates about India's economic prospects and its business environment. 

Chen Lijun, a research fellow at the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, believes that - from the perspective of general economic development patterns - both national economic rise and the realization of modernization require hard struggle. Success cannot be achieved solely through optimistic rhetoric or by relying on a single country to relocate industries or by constructing exclusive blocs.

In fact, the label of "graveyard for foreign investment" attached to India by international public opinion is the result of multiple factors, including the country's business environment, policy orientation and stage of development. As an emerging major power, India faces challenges in its industrial and economic development, such as outdated technology, limited capital and weak infrastructure - problems that are difficult to resolve in the short term. Coupled with certain investment policies and practices, these issues have led to repeated setbacks for foreign companies investing in India, earning the country, at one point, the reputation of a "graveyard for foreign investment."

In recent years, some Western media have been keen on creating an economic narrative of "who will replace whom" between China and India, and some Indian media outlets have followed suit, binding their development story to a race of overtaking. Such rhetoric has little substantive value. India and China have a long history of cooperation and their economies are complementary. China highly values cooperation with India, and is one of India's most important trade partners. In today's complex and ever‑changing global landscape, rather than debating who replaces whom, it makes far more sense to utilize each other's strengths, work on practical cooperation, and promote mutual benefit, win‑win outcomes and shared development.

Currently, China-India relations are at a critical juncture, gradually emerging from a "low point." Since the beginning of this year, both countries have seized the opportunity of the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties to strengthen communication and build mutual trust, leading to a steady improvement in relations and positive outcomes. Facts have proven that a healthy and stable development of China-India relations aligns with the common interests of both sides. Both countries should enhance political mutual trust, properly manage differences, build more consensus, expand cooperation channels and jointly write a new chapter of friendly cooperation, striving to make greater contributions to peace, stability and development in both nations, as well as the region and the world.