Chinese media shaped false opinions on Doklam Issue

Nearly three years ago,China banned puns on radio, television and other media on the grounds that it defiled language traditions and confused impressionable youth.That may have beenareason but the moreaccurateone may have been to stifle criticism.

An ode doing the rounds on Teacher's Day in 2014 paid tribute to President Xi Jinping and his singer wife Peng Liyuanroughly translated into English it said 'Daddy Xi loves Mama Peng', but when Da from Daddy is joined with Ma from Mama, you get the Chinese word for the narcotic marijuana.

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That was deemedsubversiveand, therefore, unacceptable, and so the crackdown on puns.But wordplay is common tothe Chineselanguage. China's ambassador toIndia LuoZhaohui indulged in some lastFridayto mark the founding anniversary ofthe People's Republic.

He said: "We should turn the old page and start a new chapter with the same pace and direction. Weshoulddancetogether.We should make one plus one 11. China is the largest trading partner of India."

One wonders where that concern was during theDoklamstandoff when the foreign ministry in Beijing used threatening andintimidatorylanguage against India. State-run mediadescribed Sushma Saraj as a liar and referred toNational Security AdviserAjitDovalas the "mainschemer" behindthe standoff.

SomeChina watchers in Delhibelievethat Beijing has done lasting damage to the bilateral relationship.It also reduced the room for negotiation by insisting, falsely, thatDoklamis Chinese territory, accusing India of invading,evenclaiming a "surgicalstrike" byIndia. Chinese diplomats in Delhi went so far as to repeat the official warning to India going back to 2008, that China would reverse its recognition of Sikkim as part of India.

An analysis ofmedia coverage of the standoff by theDelhi-basedCentre for China Analysis &Strategyisillustrative. The Mandarin media on the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong carried more than 130 pieces of varying length, clearly an attempt tosensitisethe public to the tensions on the plateau, and shape opinion.

ThePeople's Liberation Army Daily, which caters for the armed forces, published six articles in English. The China Daily, another English-language paper, published 33 articles, while the Communist PartymouthpiecePeople's Daily, came out with 21 articles inEnglish. Notto be left behind, Xinhua the official news agency carried sixdespatches.

Over a36-dayperiod beginningJune 26, there were 36 articles onDoklamin the state-owned English language Global Times.This is a subsidiary of the People's Daily and articles published here are vetted by the PropagandaDepartment of the Communist Party.

In an interview to the online journal Quartz last year, editor-in-chiefHiXijinsaid his paper reflected whatgovernmentofficials thought but could not sayin public.It's hawkish belligerent tone and often insulting editorialsget it noticed as the 'voice of Beijing' even while official statements remain circumspect.

Curiously enough, Hu was among the ranks of protestors in Tiananmen Square in 1989 but by his own admission, left before the crackdown began. Somewheredown theline, he changed course. His critics refer to him as a "frisbee grabber", an insult meaning he's a trainable dog thatalwaysfetchesthe frisbee thrown by its master.

Back to the present. That Ambassador Luo Zhaohuiwants to turn the pageonDoklamand move on is good news.One waits to see how this pans out on theground.

Lastword: InJuly 2010 during theASEAN summit inHanoi, YangJiechithen foreignminister(he currently states counsellor or national securityadviser), mockedthe group's move to have the USmediate China's claims to the South China Seaand warned them:"There is one basic difference among us. China is a big state and you are smaller countries."

India can draw its lessons from that.