In September 2024, a month before Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Kazan on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit, a delegation from India, which included this author, visited Beijing to exchange ideas on improving bilateral ties.
The Chinese side wanted India to cooperate with the resumption of active interaction at all levels, including media and think tanks, and direct flights between the two countries halted since the Covid-19 pandemic. It also agreed to allow Indians to undertake the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage. Significantly, the Chinese side did not wish to discuss the border issue, arguing that the LAC should not be a condition for the resumption in bilateral ties.
For the past four months, the Chinese government, media, and think tanks have been propagating these ideas as factors on which to judge the two countries’ efforts toward achieving normalcy.
Today, looking at the statement released by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s visit to Beijing this week, it seems China has achieved its version of normalcy—or has at least come closer to it.
“The two sides agreed to utilise bilateral and multilateral occasions to carry out active interactions at all levels, strengthen strategic communication, enhance political mutual trust…carry out media and think tanks exchanges, Track II talks, and other people-to-people and cultural exchanges…resume direct flights between the Chinese mainland and India…and mutual dispatch of journalists between the two countries,” the statement read.
There is little doubt that the political will on both sides has agreed to mutually beneficial steps, which would kickstart the process of achieving normalcy. However, the question remains: Can China be trusted?
In strategic terms, the Indian military and diplomatic establishment remain on high alert, closely monitoring Beijing’s actions at the LAC. India has a difficult history with China, especially regarding the latter’s violation of the understanding between the two countries, including the Panchsheel pact.
Speaking at the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York, foreign minister Jaishankar listed all the agreements violated by China over the years. Diplomacy has a limited bandwidth and can help parties negotiate to a certain extent, but when new issues replace older ones, it leaves lesser space for trust. Today, New Delhi has little to trust in Beijing.
The only way China can win back India’s trust is through actions toward resolving disputes amicably. The construction of a hydropower project in the lower reaches of the Brahmaputra River, which bears direct implications for India, achieves the exact opposite
Public perception, on-ground goodwill
Beijing has long blamed Indian media for portraying China negatively. By now, it has been established that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army led to a confrontation at the LAC, where both sides lost lives. Indian media even greeted the resumption of diplomatic channels with an attitude of hope. However, one cannot help but be concerned about the narrative about India in Chinese media.
A simple search for India in Chinese state media, especially Xinhua, offers hundreds of stories on accidents, deaths, and mishaps across the country. Little can be found on development in India and the milestones it has achieved in the defence and economic sectors. Chinese social media, while far more unfiltered, are still shaped by state narratives, often amplifying negative perceptions of India.
Discussions on popular Chinese social media platforms like Weibo and WeChat occasionally mention India’s economic growth or technological advancements but are frequently overshadowed by content highlighting infrastructural failures, pollution, or governance challenges. A pattern of elective portrayal reinforces a perception of India as struggling and chaotic, contrasting sharply with China’s self-image of stability and progress.
There have also been ill-intended attempts to portray the Indian leadership negatively. A few months ago, the Global Times, China’s leading English news daily, carried an opinion piece on Indian foreign minister Jaishankar, titled India’s diplomacy has a ‘S. Jaishankar problem’.
“Jaishankar’s diplomatic wrangling has won him some ‘fans.’ However, the diplomatic strategies and tactics he led were full of tricks – they had neither the moral sense of Jawaharlal Nehru’s diplomacy nor the ethic sense of Indira Gandhi’s diplomacy,” the article read.
The criticism of foreign minister Jaishankar stemmed mainly from India’s firm stance on engaging with Beijing: “The state of the border will determine the state of the relationship.”
While progress at the diplomatic and military levels may help restore broader engagement between the two countries, China’s responsiveness to India’s concerns will be crucial in shaping public perception and future relations. At the same time, goodwill and trust will be essential for a strong bilateral partnership. Unfortunately, China has yet to reach that point.
source : theprint