Indian hawks, biased media, rightwing political groups should stay rational amid China-India border
The clash between China and India in the Galwan Valley on the border that reportedly led to the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers has reignited anti-China sentiment in India and a wave of “deSinicization” among Indian citizens. Some of India’s hawkish politicians and media have also hyped up the conflict.
Indian Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said during a recent live session on social media that “India must realize that China cannot be trusted.” He further stated that the Indian Army should be allowed to engage with weapons at the Line of Actual
Control (LAC) if they are attacked by China.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Friday that his government has given the armed forces full freedom to take any necessary action, and he also appeared to downplay the clash.
Right-wing media The Pioneer published an opinion piece on Wednesday that claimed China has gruesome nature and kept relentless baiting and provocation.
India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party explicitly identified China and Pakistan as the biggest external threats to its national interests in its Hindi and English versions of its party cadre training manual in the year of 2018, media reported.
What makes China an imaginary enemy in the eyes of Indians? India’s hawkish anti-China politicians and media seem to have played a major role.
Bharat Karnad who is a former member of the National Security Advisory Board of India’s National Security Council, published two articles in May criticizing Modi government of not investing enough to make India self-reliant in defense and its handling of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) standoff only showed India’s “acute timidity” and encouraged China to be more obstreperous.
Local media also plays a role in
"China-bashing" campaign as the Global Times found that some news programs of Indian local TV chan-nels (either in English or Hindi) often called the COVID-19 "Chinese virus" or `Wuhan virus," though most of local mainstream English-language newspa-per used neutral and scientific terms in describing the virus. Some right-wing political groups, such as "National Volunteer Organiza-tion," or Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Hindu language, are fre-quently seen behind these high waves of anti-China sentiment. RSS affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), which handles economic issues, has called for a boycott of Chinese products and firms amid the latest face-off.
SJM also organized a protest against China on Wednesday. SJM co-convener Ashwani Mahajan had issued a statement, claiming that China should be responsible for the coronavirus pandemic and the unemployment as well as other economic losses worldwide.
As India government advocates “Self-Reliance” strategy, the SJM has been pressuring the government to ban a Chinese firm from government tenders for Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System project.
The ban is a tribute to soldiers who died in the clashes, Mahajan said.
“India also sees China as a backer of recent border disputes with Nepal and
Pakistan. So anti-China sentiment has been stronger lately,” Long Xingchun, a senior research fellow with the Academy of Regional and Global Governance at Beijing Foreign Studies University and president of the Chengdu Institute of World Affairs, told the Global Times.
Some Indian policymakers and think tanks have been working together to orchestrate a wave of anti-China sentiment, and they think of China and Sino-Indian relations through a biased US lens, said Long.
However, compared with the remarks in Doklam stand-off period, Indian military and government officials, including its Foreign Ministry, generally did not make any particularly unfriendly or aggressive statements during the conflict, despite the fact that some retired politicians have been pouring inflammatory and even hateful speeches across local media.
As an ancient civilization, India is wise enough to understand China with an independent mentality. It is in the interests of India to understand the real China and make correct and strategic judgments on this basis, said Long.