On January 1 this year, soldiers of the Chinese and Indian armies stationed along the Line of Actual Control presented each other with candy and New Year wishes to each other. According to reports, sending New Year candy to neighboring foreign troops is a tradition of the Indian Army, and on the same day, the Indian army also sent candy to the Pakistan Border Guard. This kind of behavior helped to ease the tension at the border and enhance mutual trust between the two militaries, so it was welcomed by our side, and the Chinese side responded enthusiastically, giving back candy to the Indian army. However, this kind of well-received thing has been strongly resisted by many media in India, who have criticized the Modi government as "weak to China".
First, the Indian media is once again "gibberish"
On January 3, the Hindu newspaper took the lead in shelling the Modi government, claiming that the areas where Chinese and Indian soldiers exchanged sweets included the "Demchok and Depsang areas" that were "illegally occupied" by China, which made many people think that the Modi government was "making compromises with China." The rhetoric of another Indian media outlet, Republic World, is much harsher, saying that Modi hopes to send a signal to China through the exchange of candy between border soldiers, that India will "completely surrender to China" in the "Ladakh" region. Rahul Gandhi, a member of India's opposition Congress Party, tweeted angrily that Modi's actions made India look "weak and deceitful" and shouted that "Modi must respond to China immediately, must immediately break the silence". More Indian media have been furious about the Chinese military's celebration of the New Year and the raising of the five-star red flag to all Chinese people in the Galwan Valley, demanding that Modi "take action" one after another.
Second, the Indian media provoked trouble, which is by no means the first time
In fact, it is not difficult for us to find that although the overall situation on the Sino-Indian border is controllable, India's domestic media, especially the Indian media, are always constantly "provoking trouble". In September this year, the Indian media spread rumors out of thin air that China would send people to survey the former US military base in Afghanistan, and vowed to point out that China and the Taliban had reached an agreement on the ownership of the use of Bagram Air Base, and the Chinese side sent a delegation to Kabul to conduct an on-site survey of the base. However, the actual situation is that the Indian media is "fried cold rice", and this false information, the Chinese side has long carried out a rumor, but the Indian media is not unforgiving, out of nothing. Then in October, the Indian media once again used the ability to "imagine", first spreading rumors that Chinese soldiers "crossed the line" and destroyed local infrastructure; then the Indian army used this as an excuse to send multiple artillery regiments equipped with L777 American howitzers to the Sino-Indian border.
In fact, when we analyze what the Indian media is doing, it is nothing more than two purposes! First, the so-called news created by the Indian media is only to cooperate with the behind-the-scenes financial owners to play up the "China threat theory". In addition to India's own domestic problems, the rendering of external forces and the promotion of the behind-the-scenes black hand for India's political arena and military are factors that cannot be ignored. The hegemonists, who are good at launching public opinion offensives, will naturally use various methods to stir up relations between China and India. The most convenient thing is to use the Indian media to spread false news and maliciously portray China as "aggressive". It is also under the media's rendering that many people in India who do not know the truth have been "biased" by false news! Second, the Indian media is creating fake news, which is to attract attention, but also to pave the way for some politicians in India to rise to power! We can find that every time the Indian media announces false news, India's domestic political arena will always set off a round of unfriendly storms with China. We can't be sure that there is an inevitable connection between some shady politicians and the media, but it is doubtful that such a coincidence of events has happened one after another! India's domestic political situation is unstable, and many politicians want to "ascend to power" and have to take the side of the sword, so using Sino-Indian relations to create "big news" to meet the "political needs" of many careerists!
Third, populism prevails, and Modi attracts repercussions
As early as the end of 2020, during the Sino-Indian border standoff, The Space Jun repeatedly pointed out that Modi hoped to mobilize populist sentiment and divert the attention of the people through territorial disputes with neighboring countries, and repeatedly stated that provoking ultra-nationalist ideas was bound to be countered. Judging from the current situation, Modi is now at a critical point in time when he is being regurgitated. India's provocations against China along the border have been unsuccessful for more than a year, especially in the military standoff from late 2020 to early 2021, where the Indian army suffered huge non-combat attrition due to a lack of logistical supplies. Since 2021, India has suffered a large-scale epidemic attack, and its national strength has been further damaged. At the same time, rebels in India have swarmed and organized a number of active attacks against indian forces, which has made the Indian army exhausted and difficult to maintain a large-scale armed force on the border to confront China.
For the Modi government, the rational choice should be to put an end to the flag, repair relations with China, and then devote resources and energy to solving domestic problems. However, due to the previous Modi government's wanton slander of China's "illegal occupation of Indian territory" and "active crossing the line to destroy India's infrastructure", the Indian people are full of antipathy towards China. This makes Modi now in an embarrassing situation where it is difficult to ride the tiger: India's national strength is unsustainable and unsupportable without easing relations with China; and the populists who were instigated by themselves did not agree to it. So now Modi's options on diplomacy are very limited, and there is no solution to the best of both worlds. Nowadays, the Indian army just exchanged candies with the People's Liberation Army and exchanged happy new year, which caused many Indian media to jump like thunder, if Modi really let the Indian army make some substantive concessions, how much energy the Indian opposition party and media can erupt is really unpredictable.
However, from a macro point of view, the relations between China and India are still going to ease up on the whole. In recent years, the rapid development of Sino-Indian trade has brought more common benefits to the two countries; Tang Guosheng, who served as India's ambassador to China, served as India's deputy national security adviser after an online meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. At the same time, Russia, which maintains good friendship with both China and India, has also begun to try to mediate the conflict between the two sides. Many media believe that with the blessing of many favorable factors, the relations between China and India will develop in a better direction.
Of course, the future development does not mean that we must relax our vigilance now, and anti-China sentiment in India is still rampant, and a large number of anti-China elements are widely present in the Indian army, government and media. Under these circumstances, we should remain vigilant against the Indian government or military's desperate risks, dangerous actions that undermine relations between the two countries, and fight to protect China's territorial sovereign integrity. All in all, although the prospects for China and India to repair relations and shake hands and make peace are very good, as far as the current situation is concerned, it still needs a long way to go if the two countries want to turn their differences into jade. In this process, we should respond to all hostilities in the most resolute and decisive way, only in this way can lasting peace be possible.