While hailing the recent visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to China as “highly successful by all accounts”, the CPI (M) on Thursday demanded lifting of restrictions on Chinese companies which want to operate in India.

Citing growing bilateral trade with China and a $60-billion target for 2010, the CPI (M) has called for easing of restrictions imposed on these companies on security grounds. “That the bilateral trade has grown so rapidly despite many restrictions shows the tremendous potential of economic co-operation between India and China. The visa curbs and blacklisting of certain Chinese companies even after they have qualified global tenders, as it happened in the offshore seaport in Kerala, need to be reviewed,” the CPI (M) said in an editorial in the forthcoming issue of party’s mouthpiece, People’s Democracy.

While accepting that there was no major breakthrough on the border dispute, notwithstanding the Prime Minister’s visit to Beijing, the party said that the visit, however, will strengthen the bilateral economic ties. It also hoped that the visit would be positively contributed towards “carrying forward the improvement of relations between the two Asian giants.”