The Hindu has only recently received, by conservative estimates, a large amount of money from the Chinese embassy in India, and as a consequence, it has indirectly accepted finances from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which has on its hands the blood of 20 Indian soldiers killed on June 15 this year trying to repulse a guerrilla attack mounted by the Communist party private militia – PLA. The whole page was a grand show in extolling China and its Communist Party.
The said advertorial was published on the third page of the Indian daily and caught the attention of almost everyone as being a grossly insensitive publication at a time when the Indian Army is locked in a tense military standoff with China. That the Hindu had no qualms about publishing on its third page such Chinese propaganda goes on to speak volumes about how low certain Indian publications can fall for a few biscuit crumbs thrown towards them.
CCP spends billions of dollars on overseas propaganda. Some newspapers help lubricate CCP's propaganda mill by publishing its full-page ads, without clearly marking them as ads. Any ad deceptively looks like the newspaper's own full-page coverage on China (as in The Hindu today). pic.twitter.com/vfTtJ55Mv0
— Brahma Chellaney (@Chellaney) October 1, 2020
INDIA IS AT A RIGHT PATH DUMPING CHINESE. See it’s hurting China! Chinese govt giving full page advertisement in The Hindu Newspaper. That’s ok but why publish pro China trade article in a gap of one day! pic.twitter.com/IpOlaXH096
— ASHWANI MAHAJAN (@ashwani_mahajan) October 2, 2020
China’s fight against Covid-19, fake claims of China raising its Ease of Doing Business Rankings even when the 2020 report has not been released by the World Bank, China’s efforts at global peacekeeping and the middle kingdom taking the moral high ground to shamelessly preach about how communication is key to resolve the ongoing tensions; Chinese propaganda peddled via the Hindu knew no bounds.
It must be remembered that the media house must have received a handsome sum of money from China for publishing the said advertorial. An advertorial is an advertisement presented in the form of editorial content. The advertisement is usually written to resemble an objective article and designed to ostensibly look like a legitimate and independent news story.
The Chinese embassy in India had earlier warned the Hindu to fall in line with CCP-propounded values and principles, such as the much-touted ‘One-China Policy’, which the global community is increasingly taking steps to dump flamboyantly. The Hindu had published an article by Dr. Chen Shih-chung, Minister of Health and Welfare, Taiwan, on how the country contained Coronavirus successfully despite its geographical proximity and trade relations with China. In the article, the Taiwanese health minister also advocated for Taiwan’s participation in the WHO. This did not go down well with China, which instructed the Hindu to strictly adhere to the One China Policy and not give a platform to Taiwan independence warriors.
A few days ago, the Hindu was publicly rebuked for peddling fake and twisted news to satiate its own demented motivations of bringing India down in front of the global community, as the Ambassador of Denmark to India, Freddy Svane took to scolding the Indian media house. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Prime Minister Modi recently held a virtual summit to elevate the bilateral relations to a Green Strategic Partnership. The Hindu chose to twist the meeting by claiming that the Danish PM expressed “deep concern” over India’s coronavirus situation. Ambassador of Denmark to India, Freddy Svane hit back as he retweeted the article and said, “Sorry – this is not true. Twisted News.”
Now that the Hindu has been caught red-handed working as a propaganda tool for China and its ruling CCP regime, it must ask itself whether being called an “India media organisation” is feasible or viable for it any longer.