New Delhi: Amid an ongoing border tussle in eastern Ladakh and media reports suggesting that India is imposing curbs on visas to Chinese nationals after banning dozens of products of that country, the Chinese media reiterated that Beijing is not an enemy of New Delhi but a former Indian diplomat believes that the northern neighbour's actions don't match its words.
In an article titled "India's reported curbs on visas reads as anti-China sentiment after border spat", the influential Chinese state-affiliated English daily Global Times, referring to a Bloomberg report suggesting that India is slapping visa curbs on Chinese businessmen, academics, industry experts, and advocacy groups, stated that, if true, it "is a political gesture that extends from the anti-China sentiment following the border clashes."
"India wrongly considers China as an enemy," the article stated.
It quoted Long Xingchun, president of the Chengdu Institute of World Affairs, as saying that "slapping new curbs on visas for Chinese people is purely a political trick of Indian officials and politicians to cater for the anti-China sentiment among domestic nationalists, thus demonstrating how patriotic they are regarding national security issues."
The report on India putting visa curbs on Chinese nationals came after New Delhi banned 59 Chinese apps, including the video-sharing social networking service TikTok, in the wake of the bloody clashes in Ladakh in June that resulted in deaths on both sides for the first time in 45 years along the Line of Actual Control.
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Diplomatic and military parleys between New Delhi and Beijing have been in a deadlock since early this month with China sticking to its claims over Pangong Tso, Galwan Valley, Depsang Plains and Gogra in eastern Ladakh.
The Global Times article quoted Long as saying "that tightening visas on Chinese has been a regular move adopted by India every time there are frictions in bilateral ties."
"Both the (Covid-19) epidemic and anti-China sentiments in India are discouraging Chinese from visiting India. Exchanges between China and India will not return to the pre-epidemic status quo at least for a year. It may take at least that long for before bilateral exchanges can resume," Long said.
Meanwhile, India's Education Ministry is also reviewing the setting up of chapters of China's Confucius Institute in association with local Indian educational institutes.
Confucius Institutes are public educational partnerships between colleges and universities in China and colleges and universities in other countries; the partnerships are funded and arranged in part by Hanban (officially the Office of Chinese Language Council International), which is itself affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Education.
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The stated aim of the programme is to promote Chinese language and culture, support local Chinese teaching internationally, and facilitate cultural exchanges. The organisation has come under much criticism due to rising Chinese influences in the countries in which it operates.
The Confucius Institute programme began in 2004 and is supported by Hanban, overseen by individual universities. The institutes operate in cooperation with local affiliate colleges and universities around the world, and financing is shared between Hanban and the host institutions.
Beijing tries to project the Confucius Institute programme with those like France's Alliance Francaise and Germany's Goethe-Institut that promote the respective countries' language and culture in other nations. However, unlike Alliance Francaise and the Goethe-Institut which operate independently in other countries, the Confucius Institutes seek to operate in collaboration with local institutes in other nations with funding from the Chinese government.
Experts say the Confucius Institute programme is a part of Beijing's "sharp power" expansionist policy.
The Global Times article also stated that India's new investment regulation, unveiled in April, "is believed to be discriminative against investors from China."
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Over the last several years, the rules relating to foreign direct investment (FDI) in India have been progressively liberalised. Companies and entities in most sectors can be 100 per cent foreign owned and investments in several sectors can be made through the "automatic route."
However, widespread concerns have arisen that investors from countries sharing a land border with India, especially China, could acquire stakes in Indian companies at significantly low valuations, in the current economic downturn, becoming a significant player in India's economy.
In order to curb such 'opportunistic' investments, India issued a notification amending the Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules, 2019 ("Revised Rules"). Based on the revised rules, any investing entity that belongs to/is incorporated in or that is beneficially owned by a citizen of or a person situated in a country sharing a land border with India must obtain the Indian government's approval prior to making its investment. These rules came into effect April 22 this year.
Referring to the Global Times article implying that China is not an enemy of India, Gautam Bambawale, former Indian Ambassador to China, said that Beijing's actions don't match its words.
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"If you (China) don't consider India an enemy, then why don't you return to status quo ante in Ladakh?" Bambawale said in response to a question from ETV Bharat.
When asked if the Indian economy would not be affected because of the ban on the Chinese apps, the former diplomat said that this will also hurt the economy of China.
Bambawale specifically referred to the ban on TikTok and said that it is "really hurting them".
"India gave the lead (in banning TikTok) and the US, Japan and South Korea are considering banning this," he added.
Whereas China and the US are involved in a raging trade war, Beijing is also under fire for its expansionist policies in the Indo-Pacific region, including with South China Sea region countries and Japan in the East China Sea apart from the border tussle with India.
India, along with the US, Japan and Australia, is part of a quad that is seeking to work for peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific, a region that spreads from the east coast of Japan to the east coast of Africa.
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