Three months after the bloody clash at Galwan Valley between the PLA and Indian Army troops, during which China was thrashed like never before, the paper dragon has now taken to adopt desperate measures. Chinese Communist Party (CCP) mouthpiece and a pamphlet for the Chinese Foreign Ministry – Global Times has now conducted an alleged survey, in which it has found that Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India might just be more popular than the leaders within China. That such a survey and its findings have been made public in itself speaks volumes about how Xi Jinping is working overtime to please PM Modi.
According to the survey conducted by Global Times, about 70 per cent Chinese citizens believe that there is excessive anti-China sentiment in India, while more than 30 per cent of people feel that the relations between the two countries will improve. Nine per cent of those who were surveyed believe that the improvement in Sino-India relations will be for the short term, while 25 per cent of them believe that the relationship between the two countries will remain strong for a long time.
In the same survey, it has been revealed that the Chinese citizens harbour a liking for India. Almost 51 per cent respondents appreciate the Modi government of India. 50 per cent of the respondents, meanwhile, are sympathetic towards Beijing and hold a favourable impression of the Chinese Communist Party’s regime, led by General Secretary Xi Jinping.
The survey by a CCP mouthpiece like Global Times comes in the backdrop of India mounting an unprecedented economic offensive against China, with Prime Minister Modi at the centre of all such decisions. Whether it be barring China from India’s FDI and FPI or the ban on 59 Chinese apps, not to mention the boycott of China and its firms from various sectors of India, PM Modi has been kicking the paper dragon where it hurts them the most. A Financial Times report recently stated that the Modi government had also communicated to various telecom companies of the country to not use Chinese tech in their infrastructure, a clear indication of an informal ban on Huawei and ZTE from India.
Essentially, China is doing all it can to placate PM Modi. However, they’d be fools to think that they can succeed in their futile endeavour even by an inch. The killing of 20 Indian soldiers by China was the crossing of a threshold, and rest assured, India-China relations, for the foreseeable future, are at a point of no return.
China is also now all set to unveil a bronze statue of Indian doctor Dwarkanath Kotnis, revered in China for his contributions during the Chinese revolution headed by Mao Zedong, outside a medical school in North China next month, according to the state media in China. Again, the timing of the announcement is suspicious, and coincides with the reports of the survey conducted by Global Times.
It is evident that Xi Jinping is extending goodwill towards India, by planting results of a survey he thinks can help soften PM Modi’s stance on China. However, if he believes that such infantile gestures can help placate the Prime Minister of India, Jinping is even more childish and unreasonable than we thought.