This Article is From Aug 15, 2016

Indian Media 'Stirring Up' Negative Sentiments, Affecting Ties: Chinese Daily

Indian Media 'Stirring Up' Negative Sentiments, Affecting Ties: Chinese Daily

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi met with PM Modi and his India counterpart Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi.

Beijing: An article in a Chinese daily today blamed the Indian media of "stirring up" negative sentiments in people's mind about its ties with Beijing and "overstating contradictions" in the backdrop of Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi's recent visit to New Delhi.

The Global Times opinion 'Indian media should view Beijing-Delhi ties constructively' said the press on both sides should be cautious about attempts by the West to drive a "wedge" between the two countries.

"While the Indian government is treating its relations with Beijing rationally, the country's media and public opinion are busy stirring up negative sentiments. They tend to attach more attention to divergences while overstating contradictions between the two," it said.

Mr Yi paid visited India last week. As a number of media outlets reported, the tour was focused on cooperation over the upcoming G20 and BRICS summits, an op-ed article in the Global Times said.

"However, quite a few Indian media started to cover the tour a week ago with the eye-catching headline 'China blocked India's NSG bid, but now wants help on South China Sea'," said the article.

"After negative hype over Sino-Indian ties by Indian media for a long time, it is not hard to envisage that they did it again this time. Yet while they grab all the attention they want like always, they have also caused a deterioration in the Indian public's views of China," it said.

The opinion piece said the critical view of the media does not fairly represent the big picture of the Sino-India ties.

"Given the recent frictions between the two countries, including the NSG issue and New Delhi's rejection of visa extension requests for Chinese reporters, there are indeed certain puzzles left unresolved in the bilateral relationship," it said.

The article praised the efforts being made by both the governments to address the issues in bilateral ties. "Thanks to the efforts of governments from both parties, the two nations have been enhancing collaboration and promoting more communications and mechanisms over bilateral and regional issues.

The article said that words like 'invasion' or 'transgression' were often used by them to describe Beijing without naming sources, and that "the 'China threat theory' has been hyped up by them from time to time".

"Clearly, the Indian media has not yet learned to see the considerable potential of the bilateral relationships with a constructive mind-set," it said, adding, "It is important for the Indian media to remember that development and prosperity are needed by both sides and they need a stable environment for that, it said.
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