Doklam standoff: China’s mouthpiece Xinhua alleges that the Doklam issue shows a lack of “strategic trust” on the Indian side and the standoff could lead to “strategic myopia” and hurt its own interests.
Beijing, Aug 21:
Backpedaling from last week’s racist video which portrayed India as a nation of hairy men, China’s mouthpiece Xinhua News has changed tack and attempted a more sober explainer on the Doklam standoff.
In a one-minute-35-second video, a smartly dressed anchor alleges that the Doklam issue shows a lack of “strategic trust” on the Indian side and the standoff could lead to “strategic myopia” and hurt its own interests.
The video then cuts to the two countries rich cultural history and explains how they are not “born rivals”. “Which is why India must immediately and unconditionally withdraw all troops from Chinese territory,” he says.
In a thinly veiled warning, he adds that India must “remain sober and guard against any future poor judgment”.
He, however, gets India’s population wrong when he says how “co-existing peacefully and harmoniously” will benefit India’s “2.7 billion” people.
The video ends with him saying “there is more than enough room in Asia for both the Chinese dragon and the Indian elephant to dance together”.
Last Thursday, the same news agency produced a video titled “seven sins” which claimed India broke the law by trespassing into China’s “undisputed territory”. “Didn’t your mama tell you never to break the law?” the anchor had asked.
Over the last two months, the Chinese media has vigorously protested the Indian resistance to its attempt to transform the character of the territory in Doklam. In August alone, some 125 articles have been written on the Indian “trespass”, “hijacking a small neighbour”, and a so-called Bhutanese acknowledgement to China that Doklam actually belongs to China.
