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Vitriol in Indian media can only poison relations with China, at a time when cooperation is needed in coronavirus fight

The Covid-19 outbreak in India appears to be under control. Although the number of confirmed cases is still increasing, India’s record in battling the pandemic has been quite a success, considering the size of its population.

The World Health Organisation has praised India’s lockdown measures at an early stage. Nevertheless, the government is facing a storm of media criticism, including accusations of unreliable data on infection numbers and the death toll, and on the measures’ adverse impact on daily-wage workers. The harshest criticism has been aimed at New Delhi’s handling of the hate propaganda against minority groups, specifically Muslims.

Many Indian observers even go so far as to blame China for the outbreak of Covid-19 and criticise the Chinese government’s lack of transparency.

The average Chinese finds such criticism difficult to accept. When Beijing imposed a lockdown on Wuhan with little notice on January 23, tens of millions of people were forced to stay at home in an unprecedented living arrangement. Caught unprepared, we experienced fear and discomfort. During the worst time, the first thing I did when I awoke every day was to check the number of new cases.

At that time, India quickly took steps to evacuate its nationals in China and later banned the export of certain masks. Many Chinese, in all fairness, understood the need for such measures, even if they did not like them, especially after reading comments in the Indian media sneering at China’s fight against Covid-19.

Fortunately, China’s stringent measures paid off, and the Chinese media naturally began to report on their success. China is a large country with a population of over 1.4 billion, so its media needed to console and encourage the domestic audience by telling a great story. After all, many people had been through weeks of gruelling social isolation, and the government still needed their cooperation to contain the virus.

However, some Indian commentators believed these media stories amounted to the Chinese government trying to showcase the superiority of the Chinese political system and even trying to export such a system.

I believe the Chinese government has no such intentions. When then Indian foreign minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited Beijing in 1979, Deng Xiaoping made it clear to him that China was not interested in exporting its political system.

Now at a critical moment in the fight against Covid-19, there is no incentive for the Chinese government to try to export its political system. Beijing has always emphasised the “Chinese characteristics” of its political system, meaning that it grows from China’s historical and political legacies. As President Xi Jinping has often said, “whether a pair of shoes fit, only the wearer knows”, and that it is the people of a country who are best placed to judge the path of development they have chosen for themselves.

Democratic countries in the West do not respect China’s political system and try their best to undermine it. It is regrettable that the Trump administration has tried hard to blame China for Covid-19 and shirked its responsibility to the World Health Organisation.

In India, the media is promoting conspiracy theories highlighting China’s so-called geopolitical expansion. The Chinese embassy in India has had to issue many statements clarifying the basic facts.

In these times, one way to distinguish truth from falsehood is to keep one’s access to information open and listen to experts’ views, rather than rely solely on politicians’ statements. In the case of the novel coronavirus, medical opinions about its origin, development and spread are important.

Regrettably, the random comments and arbitrary conclusions of some Indian observers rely less on fact and more on prejudice. Some have criticised China for playing a geopolitical game by offering medical products to many countries. This is obviously an exaggeration.

India has bought medical equipment such as masks, ventilators and test kits from some Chinese companies, while other Chinese companies, including Alibaba, have donated supplies to India. Are there geopolitical motives behind these moves? India has also provided assistance to its neighbouring countries. By the same logic, is India also playing a geopolitical game?

China has a great capacity to produce medical equipment, and very sound bilateral relations with Serbia, Italy, Iran and other countries. Should China stand by while its friends need help, risking a humanitarian disaster?

Hypocrisy is rampant in international politics. China’s assistance to some countries is viewed as a cynical move. But if China bans the export of medical products and drugs, as some other countries have, it would certainly be criticised for weaponising its manufacturing capacity.

The silver lining in all this is that Indian government officials have so far mostly kept their reason and acted with restraint.

Indian public opinion is not friendly to China in general. For people like me, who have been following Sino-Indian relations closely for many years, this is not new. However, I am really surprised by the cacophony of insinuation, blame and criticism that has been directed at China since the outbreak.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and India. So, there is more reason for both sides to strengthen and reaffirm their relationship.

As far as the current situation is concerned, the top priority for both countries is to control the pandemic and gradually resume normal production and life. Similar conditions in both countries mean they have a lot of room to cooperate more closely and fight Covid-19 together.

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