Chinese ambassador Sun Weidong | ThePrint
Chinese ambassador Sun Weidong | ThePrint
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New Delhi: The Press Trust of India (PTI) has been receiving scathing criticism for its recent interview with Chinese ambassador Sun Weidong, in which the diplomat squarely blamed India for the ongoing border crisis in Ladakh and the violent face-off in Galwan Valley that killed 20 Indian soldiers.

In the interview published on 25 June, Sun said the onus to resolve the tensions was not on China.

“The incident was completely instigated by the Indian side and the responsibility does not lie with the Chinese side,” he told PTI.

“First, the incident happened on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), and the Indian side crossed the LAC first … On May 6, the Indian border troops crossed the LAC in the Galwan Valley by night and trespassed into China’s territory. They resorted to violent means to create a standoff between the two sides and built infrastructures in an attempt to maintain a permanent presence,” he further said.

ThePrint reached PTI via calls and text messages, but there was no response until the time of publishing this report.

The interview was posted on the Chinese embassy’s official website, with more information than the PTI copy. In this version, Weidong delves into further detail regarding China’s stance and how the current situation can be controlled if India meets China halfway.

Three questions for China

In the interview, Sun went on to list all the commander-level meetings and conversations that have taken place between the two countries. He said China is “ready to work with India to properly deal with the border stand-off while noting that ‘suspicion and friction’ was a wrong path that goes against the fundamental aspirations of people of the two countries”.

Describing the current situation on the border as “stable and controllable”, he added that New Delhi must not take actions that may further complicate the situation.

The copy of the interview on the Chinese embassy website lists just three questions — “Thank you for accepting my interview. How do you see the face-off in Galwan Valley?”, “How do you think the current dispute can be resolved?” and “What do you think is the prospect for solving the current border face-off?”

PTI faces backlash

Many critiqued the news agency for the interview, with some saying it had given China a platform to peddle its propaganda in India.

Senior journalist Kanchan Gupta described the interview as “a propaganda handout that paints #India as villain”, while Ishaan Prakash, a journalist with leading wire agency Asian News Agency (ANI) said, “What a hard hitting interview with a whopping three questions.”

ThePrint reached ANI’s editor Smita Prakash through text messages, but she refused to comment on the interview.

BJP’s Dr Vijay Chauthewala commented on how the interview appeared “scripted”.

“Why no counter questions asked to this one-sided narrative? Why no question of casualties from Chinese side? Does PTI explore a merger with Xinhua?” he asked.

Senior fellow at Brookings Institute Tanvi Madan also raised a similar issue with the interview.

“U hv an opportunity to interview the Chinese amb. in India & u don’t press him on any of his claims. So he gives you essentially a press release. What exactly is the point? (sic),” she posted.

JNU professor Amitabh Mattoo called PTI “an instrument of Beijing’s propaganda and info warfare”, while digital entrepreneur Akhilesh Mishra made some staggering allegations of PTI “spreading fake news, tweeting photoshopped images, creating misleading headlines (and) deliberately misquoting people”.