Media questioning Indian govt’s silence on China border clash

MUMBAI/BEIJING: Indian media commentators called on Wednesday for a strong response to a border clash with Chinese troops that led to the deaths of at least 20 Indian soldiers, with some questioning the Indian government’s silence on the issue.

Chinese media largely refrained from commentary on the incident, though the editor of a paper linked to the ruling Communist Party warned India that China did not fear a clash.

INDIA: “The timing of the Chinese aggression and Beijing’s assertive claims in the Galwan valley appear to be part of a strategy to remind India of its vulnerabilities,” said an editorial in the Times of India, the country’s best-selling English-language newspaper.“If this is the case then India, as a proud nation, should do exactly what the Chinese don’t want and undertake diplomatic countermeasures against Beijing.”

Others went further. “We’re dealing with medieval brutes,” said Arnab Goswami, Editor-in-Chief of Republic Media Network. “We’ll have to go out and give them (China) a very bloody nose. We’ll have to hit them where it will really hurt the Chinese. And trust me, we know where that is.”

CHINA: In China, the incident has not been given wall-to-wall coverage. Official media have stuck largely to Tuesday’s statement from the Chinese army’s Western Command about the incident.

On social media, bloggers and media-aggregating platforms shared Indian media reports, such as the Indian army’s announcement acknowledging that the death toll had risen to 20.

Most vocal was the Global Times, a paper published by the official paper of the ruling Communist Party. Its editor-in-chief, Hu Xijin, took to domestic and global social media platforms to scold India, saying “Indian public opinion needs to stay sober” and to warn that China did not fear a clash.

It was unclear if the topic would have been allowed to trend on Weibo, China’s equivalent to Twitter, given that its top-ten trending topic function is currently disabled.