Chinese citizens, firms may face attacks in India, warns media

Chinese citizens and companies face possible “violent attacks” in India amid rising tension between the two countries over a military standoff in Sikkim, the Chinese media warned on Wednesday.

There was also a possibility of a slowdown in Chinese investments in India, the state-run Global Times said in a write-up that weighed the potential fallout of the border face-off.

“Violent attacks against Chinese personnel and companies may happen in India if the two countries see even small-scale military tension at the border,” the article said.

“Many people believe Indian nationalism led to the country’s independence from British rule decades ago but now it is gradually evolving into an internal factor behind the anti-Chinese sentiment, which is fuelled by ethnic and religious factors.”

The warning came one a day the nationalistic Global Times published an editorial saying India will be “kicked” out from the disputed area and will suffer “greater losses” than it did during the 1962 war. The number of Chinese tourists to India is not very high, official data show. In April, 2.95% out of 7.4 lakh foreign visitors to India were from China.

However, Chinese investments in India have risen substantially over the years -- the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) last year estimated that total FDI from China between April 2000 and December 2016 was $1.6 billion.