Chinese Web post causes ire in India

• Source: Global Times
• [01:28 August 20 2009]
• Comments

“Netizens have the freedom to express their personal opinions. Indian media uses this article to hype the ‘China threat theory,’ which is a reflection of the Indian media’s attitude toward China,” said Fu Xiaoqiang, a researcher at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.

The Indian media has long spread the so-called China threat theory. In an article entitled “Unmasking China,” Bharat Verma, a senior editor of the Indian Defense Review, said recently that China would launch an attack on India before 2012 to achieve multiple strategic objectives.

“We have no comment on this issue at this time,” an official at the spokesman’s office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Global Times yesterday.

A spokesman at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs downplayed the hype, saying, “The article in question appears to be an expression of an individual’s opinion and does not accord with the officially stated position of China on India-China relations conveyed to us on several occasions, including at the highest level, most recently by State Councilor Dai Bingguo during his visit to India last week.”

India and China have enjoyed a cooperative relationship, the spokesman said.

Obstacles to relations

The publication of the article coincided with talks between Beijing and New Delhi over disputed Himalayan border areas. Earlier this year, China held up funding for an Asian Development Bank project in Arunachal Pradesh, a state claimed by China as “south Tibet.” India has also banned some Chinese imports this year, as it tries to protect its economy from the global financial crisis.

Ma Zhaoxu, a spokesman of the Chinese delegation of China-India Boundary Talks, said in an interview with Chinese media that China believes the new round of talks held August 7-8 in New Delhi would play a positive role in pushing forward bilateral relations.

“Border disputes have long affected the relationship between China and India, but the major stance of China’s policy toward India is to develop peacefully, and China never expects any conflict with India,” Hu told the Global Times.

Zhang Han contributed to this story