'Best' efforts to resolve toy dispute: China

China is doing its 'best' to resolve through bilateral talks the dispute on the import of its toys by India, which has imposed safety restrictions on Chinese products, prompting Beijing to raise the issue at the WTO.

"We are working (on it)... we will try our best" to resolve the issue through bilateral discussions, Chinese Ambassador to India Zhang Yan said on the sidelines of an India-China Trade Centre meet in New Delhi.

Chinese Vice-Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan and Indian Commerce Secretary G K Pillai held talks in New Delhi on Thursday on the issue. Pillai informed Zhong that India would extend the safety standards on imported toys to all the countries, not just China. Even the domestic manufacturers would be subjected to the same standards.

While China raised the issue at the technical barrier committee of the WTO in Geneva on March 18, it has not yet formally lodged a complaint against India. Bit, it said that lodging a formal complaint at the WTO is not ruled out. "We do not rule out litigation at the WTO ...," Zhong said on Thursday.

India lifted the ban on importing Chinese toys imposed in January, but retained the safety standards for imports. The toy market is estimated to be around Rs 2,500 crore (Rs 25 billion) and China met half the Indian demand until the dispute surfaced.