BEIJING – China’s state-run Global Times has blamed Prime Minister NarendraModi for “damaging” the ties between India and China. In an article, FudanUniversity Centre for South Asian Studies director Zhang Jiadong has saidthat Prime Minister Modi-led NDA government’s tilt towards the US hasresulted in worsening of ties between the neighbours.
The article accused Prime Minister Modi of abandoning India’s principle ofnon-alignment and ending the tradition of “keeping an equal distance frommajor powers”. It says that attempts made by the Prime Minister did improveties, but only in the “short run”.
According to the Global Times, India under Prime Minister Modi is emergingas a “major defence partner” and “major non-NATO ally” of the US. It addsthat the developments in this regard “sours the strategic partnershipbetween China and India”.
Claiming that Modi government’s team has been “left with neophytes inforeign affairs”, the article says that the Indian Prime Minister did notinclude any member of the foreign policy team under the previous UPAgovernment. It added that Prime Minister Modi did not even include thosewho were part of the team during the tenure of former prime minister andBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who breathedhis last in the national capital last week.
The article says that since Narendra Modi came to power in India, thecountry has been working to cope with the “China threat” and hence indulgedin giving a boost to India-US ties.
Pointing that Prime Minister Modi showed a friendly gesture toward China inthe beginning of his tenure but the situation worsened during the Doklamstand off, which brought the militaries of the countries
The article further compares Prime Minister Modi to India’s first primeminister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who had changed his own policies towardsChina.
“If Modi’s BJP is still in the lead, he might continue the current policyon China. However, it’s hard for Modi to do so if BJP fails. The potentialdisputes will emerge again and harm China-India ties,” says the article.