'Relation with China should be on give-and-take basis'

India should develop relationship with China on "give-and-take" principle, rather than on idealism or make-believe, Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy said.

India should develop relationship with China on "give-and-take" principle, rather than on idealism or make-believe, Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy said.

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"India should strive for a partnership with China on a give-and-take relationship and reach an understanding on what we can and cannot do with each other," Swamy, who is also a noted economist said during a seminar on 'India-China Relations: From Tradition to Trade' in Mumbai on Saturday.

"China can never be our true friend as both countries have the same global interests," Swamy said.

"India must go for its own independent foreign policy, maintain cordiality with both US and China without tilting to either side...," he said.

"India must spend at least six per cent of its GDP on defence so that we can deploy more forces at the Malacca Strait through which 90 per cent of China's oil imports pass," Swamy said.

"This is necessary because China has built naval bases around India from Gwadar in Pakistan to Hambantota in Sri Lanka to ports in Burma, and hence we need to counter that," he explained.