Chinese social media abuzz with ‘warnings’ for India to pull back

A PLA STATEMENT HAS BEEN PUBLISHED BY LEADING NEWSPAPERS, AND COMMENTED UPON, REPOSTED AND LIKED THOUSANDS OF TIMES

media platforms in China are abuzz over official statements, including the one issued by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) late on Thursday, demanding India withdraw its troops from Donglang (Doklam) near the Sikkim border to end the military impasse.

Many Chinese on such platforms have interpreted the salvo of ministerial and media statements as part of a “last warning” to India though none of the statements explicitly say so.

The brief PLA statement, for one, has been reproduced in leading newspapers and official media and has been reposted, commented, and liked thousands of times.

Indian and Chinese soldiers are locked in a standoff since June 16, with Beijing accusing New Delhi of trespassing and preventing its soldiers from building a road in the disputed region of Doklam.

Bhutan and India maintain that Doklam, or Donglang as the Chinese call it, is a Bhutanese territory. The road, if built, would have serious implication for India’s security.

China has taken an aggressive stand and even warned of a war.

What has added to the online buzz over the standoff in the last 24 hours is the coordinated effort by the foreign and defence ministries and leading official media outlets to widely publicise the latest government statements that rejected India’s arguments and demanded the immediate withdrawal of Indian troops from “Chinese soil”.

On August 2, its ministry of foreign affairs issued a 15-page “fact statement” on the standoff, which was widely read, circulated, and published in both Chinese and Indian media. It followed it up with another scathing and acerbic statement the next day, saying India talks about peace but is not working towards defusing the situation.

All major newspapers, news websites, and social media platforms have articles and comment pieces criticising, warning, and demanding that New Delhi pull back its troops for talks.

But the PLA statement, released in Chinese on Thursday night, caught the attention of Chinese online media users. It said China’s “…goodwill has its principles and restraint has its bottom line”.