Counterproductive for Indian media to smear CPEC: Says Chinese Scholar

BEIJING, Feb 19 (DNA): Indian media are habitual criminals of destroying international peace with fake news. 
Their actions will not hinder the construction of CPEC. Instead, it’s counterproductive and they will shoot themselves in the foot,” Hu Zhiyong, Professor of Institute of International Studies (IIR) of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS), Deputy Chairman and Secretary-General of China-South Asia Regional Security Council, said in an exclusive interview with Gwadar Pro.

Prime Minister Imran Khan paid a visit to China to support Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games and said Pakistan will always support China’s political stance.

In response, the Indian media released a lot of false statements to discredit CPEC in a vain attempt to undermine Pak-China relations. 
Indian media smears CPEC because they don’t have not only basic journalistic professionalism, but also a clear understanding of international relations.
” Pakistan-China relationship is an all-weather strategic partnership. CPEC is the flagship project of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, so the friendly development of the two countries has made some Indian politicians very jealous. 
When China came up with BRI, India has refused to join BRI on the grounds that CPEC infringes on India’s sovereignty by passing through the disputed area of Kashmir. 
In fact, CPEC doesn’t touch this area at all. Therefore, the Indian government and media is jealous of the fruitful results CPEC has achieved in recent years. On the other hand, Indian media lacks journalistic professionalism.
India’s media are mostly privately owned, and in order to attract more readers, fake news is produced to cater to the national sentiment of the domestic audience,” Hu said.

What the Indian government wants to say, but is afraid to say, is often said by the Indian media so that the Indian government can gain more leverage in negotiations with China and Pakistan. 
He added: “Here’s a very typical example. In the past few years, China and Pakistan have detected several cases of Indians posing as Pakistanis sabotaging CPEC construction sites. 
But after these cases were solved jointly by Pakistan and China, the Indian media turned it upside down and insisted that Pakistanis were responsible for the sabotage.”

“The reason for the instability in Pakistan-China-India relations is the Indian government. China-Pakistan relations are all-weather strategic partners of cooperation. China-India relations have had ups and downs. 
So far, Pakistan-India relations have not moved towards normalization. There are two main reasons. The first is the inaction of the Indian government, and the second is the fomenting of so-called Hindu nationalism in India by the Modi government in its second term. 
Actually, the Indian government, when the domestic economy is unable to recover and develop, is creating trouble on the Pakistan-China-India border to divert the attention of the domestic people, so as to maintain its years in power. It’s their tradition,” Hu said.

False remarks made by Indian media cannot break Pakistan-China relations. Hu said: “To be honest, India’s sabotaging of CPEC may, in a short period of time, give some people in India and Pakistan who do not know the truth a false impression that CPEC is really going wrong. 
But over time, people in Pakistan and India will find out that this is not the case, and they will lose trust in the Indian media. Therefore, the Indian media’s smearing of CPEC is untenable once tested in practice, and it can only achieve some short-term effects. In the long run, this is shooting itself in the foot. 
Therefore, I would like to advise the Indian media to be objective, fair and neutral in reporting, rather than spreading false news contrary to the facts, which will damage the image of Indian media and Indian government.”