New Delhi: Amid a very tense situation at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto India-China border, India’s support for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at the 18th ‘virtual’ meeting of the foreign ministers of China, Russia and India on Friday via video link, has drawn joyous response in the Chinese state-controlled media.
Opinion pieces in the state-controlled Chinese media are indicative of the point of view of the Chinese Communist Party which vets all content that goes into the media.
At a time when the US and its allies like UK and Australia are considering a ‘diplomatic boycott’ of the Winter Olympics, India’s support has come like a shot in the arm for China.
An op-ed article in the state-controlled ‘Global Times’ on Sunday says: “India's behavior toward the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games embodies that New Delhi retains its strong diplomatic and strategic autonomy. Despite its close ties with the US, India does not mean that it inclines to the US over all regional and international affairs. New Delhi is simply not a ‘natural ally’ of Washington.”
“New Delhi in recent years is moving closer toward Washington in terms of geopolitics, and is hostile toward Beijing over some issues. Against this backdrop, India's support for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games has surprised some netizens at home and abroad,” the article added.
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The joint statement issued by the three foreign ministers on Sunday also reiterated cooperation in the fight against Covid 19 through “sharing of vaccine doses, transfer of technology, development of local production capacities [and] promotion of supply chains for medical products” and also agreeing that the India-China-Russia cooperation will “contribute not only to their own growth but also to global peace, security, stability and development.”
Interestingly, the joint statement also called for “immediate and unhindered humanitarian assistance to be provided to Afghanistan.”
The article concluded that India’s stand demonstrated that in diplomacy, “India seeks to move flexibly among major powers and various mechanisms in a bid to maximize its diplomatic maneuvering space”.
Ever since the current border conflict broke out in April-May 2020, both the Indian army and the PLA have mobilized and deployed more than 1,00,000 soldiers along with war-like equipment along the LAC and in depth areas.
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