India shouldn’t defame, misinterpret China, says state-run newspaper
NEW DELHI: China’s state-run media is still smarting from its country being blamed for blocking India’s membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), and it has again resorted to pulling up India which it says shouldn’t “misinterpret and defame China.”
“India had better put more efforts into figuring out how to obtain international trust rather than misinterpreting and defaming China,” says an editorial today in the Chinese state-run Global Times .
The editorial points a finger at both the Indian public and the Indian media, just like another editorial did, last week. In fact, in the run-up to the NSG’s plenary meeting in Seoul, Global Times wrote reams about why China would oppose India’s NSG membership bid . Still, it seems to believe that India, and not China, is obsessed with the NSG.
“The Indian public seems to be having a hard time accepting the outcome of the Seoul plenary meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) late last month. Many Indian media put the blame on China alone, accusing China of anti-India and pro-Pakistan motives behind its opposition,” the article says.
The same newspaper ran a similar editorial last week blaming India and the Indian media. Last week, it went so far as to say, “India’s nationalists should learn how to behave themselves. Now that they wish their country could be a major power, they should know how major powers play their games.” It also called Indians “self-centered and self-righteous”.
Today’s piece again talks of why India shouldn’t be in the NSG.
The NPT mantra
“Joining the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is a must for any country seeking NSG membership, but India is not a party to the NPT. The only exception is if India can obtain consent from all 48 NSG members, but several countries apart from China hold reservations in this regard,” the paper opines.
Last week, too, it repeated that China “follows the rules” , and the rule is that an NSG member must be a signatory to the NPT, which India isn’t.
Several newspaper reports, including The Times of India, cited highly-placed sources as saying that 47 of the 48 NSG members supported New Delhi’s application, with China being the only hold out. The Chinese newspaper says 10 countries opposed India’s NSG bid.
In last week’s editorial, the Indian government – unlike commoner Indians – was given a thumbs up because it “behaves decently and is willing to communicate”. That isn’t the case with today’s editorial.
Today, it says, India “seems to be still stuck in the shadow of the war with China in the 1960s and many still hold on to the obsolete geopolitical view that China does not want to see India rise. However, New Delhi may have misunderstood Beijing, which can make a big difference in its strategic decisions.”
Sino-Indian cooperation
India’s rapid economic development can actually help improve its relations with China, the editorial says.
“The obviously cooperative attitude has wide representation as an increasing number of people now care about economic progress more than anything else… Many regions in China are looking for business opportunities in the fast-growing India. Chinese citizens may not realize the full potential of India, but in general they are attaching far more importance to the neighboring country than ever before,” it adds.
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