Xi’s smile ‘the smile of a tiger before it devours you’: Markandey

NEW DELHI: Former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju on Saturday likened Xi Jinping's smile to that of a hungry tiger, and warned that China's trying to weaken India - which it sees as its biggest rival in South Asia - using its "proxy and protege" Pakistan.

Katju - who's well-known for his controversial posts on social media - also called the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) summit scheduled for tomorrow in Goa a "joke," and claimed that all it would achieve would be "sightseeing and bathing on the beaches of Colva and Calangute by the participants." "Indians, don't be carried away by the smile of President Xi Jinping. It is the smile of a tiger before it devours you," Katju wrote on Facebook about the Chinese President, who held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Goa today.

China, an "expanding imperialism," has 3.3 trillion dollars' worth of foreign exchange reserves, and is looking for investment opportunities, raw materials and markets "with a ravenous eye," Katju explained.

Since India is the "biggest other power in South Asia," China perceives it to be its greatest rival, and is trying to weaken it with Pakistan's help, and by "supplying sophisticated weapons" to militants in Kashmir, he added.