Beijing could interfere in Kashmir, says Chinese media
BEIJING: The Chinese media is expectedly pulling no punches in criticising the 14th Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh.
If the nationalistic tabloid Global Times threatened that Beijing could interfere in “turbulent” Kashmir in retaliation, the usually sober China Daily went further and said in an editorial that “If New Delhi chooses to play dirty, however, Beijing should not hesitate to answer blows with blows”, a sentence open to various and not necessarily pacific interpretations.
“New Delhi not only allowed the 14th Dalai Lama to visit Southern Tibet, a historical Chinese territory India has illicitly occupied and refers to as ‘Arunachal Pradesh’, but the spiritual leader of ’Tibetan independence’ was also escorted on his trip by India’s junior minister of home affairs. To Beijing, that is a double affront,” said China Daily.
The editorial took affront to minister Kiren Rijiju’s statement: “China should not object to the Dalai Lama’s visit and interfere in India’s internal affairs.” It then let loose what could be called a personal attack dipped in sarcasm on the minister who hails from Arunachal.
“Rijiju might think himself cute in borrowing a line from Beijing’s diplomatic representations, but he has ignored the fundamental distinction here: Like Taiwan and any other part of China, Tibet is a part of Chinese territory no matter whether New Delhi agrees or not. Southern Tibet, on the other hand, was stolen from China by his country’s former colonial master taking advantage of China’s internal strife,” it said. It added that “Indian occupation of the area is legally untenable. Using it as a leverage, therefore, is not just unethical. It is outright illicit.”
The Global Times editorial asked the rhetorical question whether India will be able to withstand a “geopolitical” onslaught from an economically, militarily and diplomatically stronger China: “With a GDP several times higher than that of India, military capabilities that can reach the Indian Ocean and having good relations with India’s peripheral nations, coupled with the fact that India’s turbulent northern state borders China, if China engages in a geopolitical game with India, will Beijing lose to New Delhi?”
China shares borders with PoK and Ladakh in J&K. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor that passes through PoK has emerged as the latest sore spot between the two Asian giants. Besides the media, officials and experts continued to attack India as well. A top official said India was “losing its dignity”.
“This is not the first time that the Dalai Lama has visited south Tibet and called the region Indian territory, which means he is committed to separating the nation,” Zhu Weiqun, head of ethnic and religious affairs committee of National Committee of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, told the Global Times.