China makes baseless claims of grabbing Bhutan’s territory. Indian media falls for it and jumps the gun

In an attempt to mislead the people of China, Bhutan and India, a Chinese state journalist Shen Shiwei, who works as senior producer at CGTN News posted pictures on Twitter claiming that the Chinese had set up a village in what is Bhutanese territory, merely a few kilometres away from the trijunction of Doklam which had witnessed a tense standoff between the Indian Army and Chinese PLA in 2017. The same piece of misinformation was then amplified by a section of Indian media, who began spinning doomsday theories in order to make the public believe that a hell of sorts had descended upon India in the form of China setting up a village two-kilometres inside Bhutan.

Bhutan, however, was quick to come out in the open and refute all such baseless claims of Chinese landgrab of their territory. News agency ANI quoted Bhutan’s Ambassador to India – Maj Gen Vetsop Namgyel, and said, “there is no Chinese village inside Bhutan”. Interestingly, Bhutan doesn’t have an embassy in China and diplomatic communication between both countries happens through their missions in New Delhi. Additionally, India is responsible for the maintenance of Bhutan’s territorial integrity, as the Himalayan kingdom itself has a limited armed force.

As such, the media attempting to peddle abject lies of a Chinese media parrot only to further their own demented interests of portraying India as a weak country when faced with the paper dragon shows just how un-journalistic and shameless India’s fourth estate is. Despite the fact that the Chinese journalist who had originally claimed that a village had been set up inside Bhutanese territory has deleted his tweet and pictures therewith, some Indian media outlets have failed to retract their fake reports on Chinese landgrab of a country which depends on India for security. To expect an apology on their part for running such fake stories, therefore, becomes a luxury one definitely cannot even think of availing.

In 2017 at Doklam – a Bhutanese territory at the trijunction of India, Bhutan, and China; Chinese forces were trying to construct a road in the region sparking a 2-month long stand-off. Earlier this year, China staked claim on Sakteng Wildlife sanctuary in Eastern Bhutan, which was promptly dismissed by Thimphu. Going by precedent, it seems, a section of Indian media chose not to verify the said claims of fake Chinese landgrab in Bhutan this time round. Nevertheless, this has gone a long way in exposing certain media houses for the unprecedented Chinese puppets that they are.