Amidst the standoff between India and China along the Line of Actual Control that resulted in the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers in Galwan Va...
Amidst the standoff between India and China along the Line of Actual Control that resulted in the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers in Galwan Valley on June 15, a controversy broke out about an interview by the Press Trust of India with Sun Weidong, China’s Ambassador to India ten days later.
The Chinese embassy in Delhi put out a truncated version of the interview on their website, accusing India of instigating the violence. Soon after, PTI faced a barrage of criticism: some accused the news agency of bad timing, while others said it had been soft on the Chinese ingressions.
India’s public service broadcaster, Prasar Bharati – that purportedly autonomous institution owned by the Union government that comprises All India Radio and Doordarshan – shot off a strongly worded letter to PTI, claiming that the interview was “detrimental to national interests’’. It threatened to cancel its subscription to the agency, eliciting angry reactions from journalists’ bodies.
Prolific writer
Lost in the noise is the fact that many Indian publications over the past year have provided space for the Chinese ambassador to present his country’s versions of truth in their Op-Ed columns and Commentary pages. This is an opportune moment to look back at some of those articles to understand the path to the present...