Chinese social media users, whether citizens or officials, are getting more and more aggressive about India as the LAC stand-off continues — and some of the content is borderline ugly and much of it dismissive or insulting about India.
On June 17, a China-based Twitter account — @frankwhuwhu — tweeted out, “India is a perverted country”. On the Chinese twitter clone, Sina Weibo, a user called “Gonan” posted a video showing some Indians throwing a, presumably Chinese brand, television set from their balcony. The tagline simply read: “It’s so unfair I can’t find Made in India products around me. I am not happy…Same as the whole world.”
Several Chinese users on Weibo have been more aggressive. One user posted a screenshot of a We-Chat conversation: “HOTPOT 1, CURRY 0”. Another user “Sea review 2020” posted a video that discussed a “three-line attack” on India — from Pakistan, China and Nepal.
A handle on Weibo called “Liu Dong’s Requiem” said, in sometimes fractured English: “From ancient times, the Chinese have never been afraid of playing…If a large number of Indian troops are already mobilized, the Indian groups-…may not necessarily have logistics support, considering Hindustan Airlines (sic, the user meant HAL) is nicknamed “widowmaker” and several others. The well known Indian defence company, we will wait to see the joke.”
While the content on Weibo is largely for domestic consumption, Chinese diplomats say their piece on Twitter. Sometimes they offer aggressive commentary on issues concerning other countries, besides amplifying official Chinese propaganda via The Global Times, CGTN, and China Daily.
Hua Chunying and Zhao Lijian, both from China’s foreign ministry, have, for example, aggressively tweeted against the US during US-China face offs. Zhao, incidentally, was deputy chief of mission in the Chinese embassy in Islamabad. So far Hua and Zhao have stuck to official statements on the LAC stand-off.
But Zhang Heqing, the diplomat who replaced Zhao in Islamabad, retweeted a Global Times story headlined “India’s four types of anti-China groups imperil bilateral ties”.
Heqing also amplified a tweet by Global Times editor Hu Jixin, who said, “Indian society needs to rid two misjudgements: 1. It underestimates China’s will to prevent Indian troops from crossing LAC. 2. It thinks India has military capacity to beat China in a border war. Correct understanding of each other is basis for China-India friendly coexistence”.
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