Chinese social media users are debating whether Beijing should support the Khalistan movement or not. Also, China’s official media is reporting extensively on the India-Canada diplomatic dispute. Additionally, the downfall of former Foreign Minister Qin Gang has been linked to an alleged extramarital affair and the birth of a child in the United States. President Xi Jinping’s paranoia has been on full display as an obsession with national security has begun to drive Chinese foreign policy. ChinaScope highlights India-Canada tensions, debates on social media, the opening ceremony of the 2023 Asian Games and other news and media coverage.
China throughout the week
The diplomatic dispute between India and Canada has triggered a debate on Chinese social media about who Beijing should stand with in this dispute.
Users were concerned about this controversy and people seemed divided between supporting India and the Khalistan movement. This debate once again reflects China’s limited understanding of India’s ethnic diversity.
But it remained a major point of debate on Chinese social media, with the topic being discussed on 49 search pages on Weibo. Read the top ten searches on Baidu, “Has the fall already started? The West started a siege against India.”
As soon as India and Canada expelled their diplomats on September 18, China Xinhua News agencies immediately jumped into reporting. This news was prominently published on the front page of this government newspaper. in Toronto China Daily The reporter reported extensively on the tension between the two countries. even Global Times And People’s Daily Also reported from Canada. However, this is an unusual occurrence by Chinese government media, as it does not delve much into the internal issues of other countries, nor do their reporters cover them.
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from toronto China Daily “Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, was murdered by two masked men in the parking lot of a Sikh gurdwara in Surrey in June,” Rena Lee reported. He had served as the head of that Gurudwara.” Xinhua news agency and People’s Daily In its reports, Nijjar was also described as a “Sikh leader”.
India watchers in China suggested that they should support the Khalistan movement. The South Asia Study Group on Weibo said, “India is only trying to take advantage of the strategic opportunity, knowing that it can now act recklessly. This opportunity has simply ended.” He told that India was behind the murder of Nijjar.
The group suggested that Beijing support the Khalistan movement and bring it closer to the Sikhs in India. But the group, which bills itself as an association of ‘experts on South Asia’, is also oblivious to the fact that the Khalistan movement has no support in India.
Meanwhile, some social media users said that China should not support this movement. A user named ‘Gnowing Bear’, who has over 1.9 million followers on Weibo, said, “It is a bit foolish to think that we can win over the Sikhs in India. Supporting Khalistan is only to create trouble for India, nothing else. So we should not get too involved in this.”
cctv, phoenix television And CGTN As Chinese state media channels covered every turn of this tension on their TV broadcasts.
beijing news While sharing a big story on WeChat, he said, “The diplomatic dispute between India and Canada has deepened. “Both sides have refused to make concessions to each other.” Meanwhile, in Chinese Global Times Suggested that the Joe Biden administration in the US maintained relative silence on the diplomatic dispute because Washington wanted to keep Delhi on its side for geo-strategic reasons.
Global Times “The most important thing is that when it comes to targeting China, India is only making a small fuss and is completely willing to go along with the West and confront China,” he said in a special reporting from Canada. Not there.”
Even the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) covered it.People’s Daily A foreign network headlined, “770,000 Sikhs are creating a feud between Canada and India!”
The controversy also attracted the attention of news commentators, who created videos on Weibo and Bilibili explaining everything from who the Sikhs are to the India-Canada dispute.
Beijing has a bad record of using ethnic unrest for geopolitical gain, but that does not mean it has no desire to intervene now. Beijing has used its state media to loudly raise this dispute in the hope that the US will not take India’s side to confront China on every issue.
Meanwhile, one story that went completely unnoticed amid tensions between India and Canada was the mysterious death of a British Columbia resident: Wei Hu, a Chinese activist and staunch critic of the CCP. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is investigating the death of a Chinese national who was one of the targets of Xi’s Operation Fox Hunt. This is a global “anti-corruption campaign” by the Chinese government to force expatriates to return to China.
Also read: Xi’s anti-corruption campaign will impact the Chinese army, Beijing’s ambitions have suffered a setback.
in the asian games
China’s behavior with the athletes of Arunachal Pradesh is once again in the news. India has accused Beijing of stopping its athletes from going to China for the ongoing Hangzhou Asian Games. Three female wushu players, Nyeman Wangsu, Onilu Tega and Mapung Lamgu, were denied entry into China through Hong Kong after their accreditation was not confirmed at the border port. In July 2023, Beijing also issued staple visas to Indian athletes. A staple visa is one according to which it claims those people to be its ‘citizens’.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said, “The Chinese government has never recognized the so-called Arunachal Pradesh. “It is part of China under the South Tibetan region.”
On 23 September 2023, Xi inaugurated the Asian Games with much fanfare, while Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur did not attend the ceremony. From India’s side, Raja Randhir Singh, acting president of the Olympic Council of Asia, participated in the ceremony, but he did not attend the dinner hosted by Xi Jinping.
The Wall Street Journal According to a report, senior Chinese officials were informed during an internal party meeting that Qin Gang was involved in an extramarital affair in the US. reportedly based in hong kong phoenix tv Rumors of an affair involving TV show host Fu Xiaotian began spreading in July.
WSJ According to a source who spoke to, the matter could have been let go by the CCP, but the news of the birth of a child in the US triggered an investigation. China’s Foreign Minister becoming the father of a child in America would be a political liability that Xi could not tolerate.
Within the CCP, extramarital affairs and promiscuity have been used as tools to target dissidents. In the past, senior CCP officials have found themselves in embarrassing situations following controversies involving their colleagues. Tennis player Peng Shuai’s allegations of sexual harassment against former Vice Prime Minister Zhang Gaoli come to mind.
In Qin’s case, the possibility that he was expelled from the United States for having a child could be used against China’s foreign minister. This will be very difficult to digest in the Xi era.
Xi’s anxiety is now on full display at home and abroad.
bloomberg According to a report by South African Police Minister Bheki Cele, South African Police Minister Bheki Cele told local media, “The Chinese flew in on a cargo plane with their bedding, curtains and carpets.” “There was nothing from South Africa in those rooms,” Cele said.
Xi does not trust anyone regarding his security and is worried about his spying. The story shows how skeptical he has become regarding his personal and state security matters.
Must read this week
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China’s Ultra-Rich Genus Flock as Global Tensions Rise—Selina Xu
(The author is a columnist and freelance journalist. He was previously a China media journalist with the BBC World Service. His handle is @aadilbrar. The views expressed are personal.)
(Editing: Rishabh Raj)
(Click here to read this article in English.)
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