US wary of China fishing in Canada-India diplomatic troubled waters

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By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, October 7: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) mouthpiece Global Times is seen to be hosting commentaries on Canada-India diplomatic spat more actively, with columnists building arguments of hypocrisy and duplicity of the western world. Now, it appears that the US officials are growing concerned that Canada’s diplomatic spat with India could be fertile grounds for disinformation emanating from China.

Global Engagement Center co-ordinator James Rubin has been quoted by the Associated Press having said in a briefing that while he has not yet seen evidence of China seeking to exploit the Canada-India dispute, this is obviously “an area that is ripe for information manipulation”.

Rubin’s assessment has come close in the backdrop of the US embassy in India denying the report in Politico that ambassador Eric Garcetti had told his team-mate that there could be possible impact on Indo-US relations because of the ongoing diplomatic tussle between New Delhi and Ottawa, besides the prospects of scaling down official engagements. The US embassy had asserted that Washington is committed to deepening of the strategic ties with New Delhi, as seen in the engagement of Garcetti in India. Garcetti is often seen travelling across India to partake in the local culture and cuisine.

Rubin noted in his briefing, as quoted by AP, that conflict creates a fertile ground for falsehood in cases such as “restive political factions, grassroots public outrage, economic instability or geopolitical disputes”. He was also quoted having said that “any time there is an underlying discontent in a country, the manipulators will use that”. He was giving a briefing on Thursday on China’s goals for reshaping the information space.

He underlined that China is getting better in pushing its narrative in the information space. China is alleged by strategic affairs commentators that Beijing heavily invests in propaganda outreach in foreign capitals to peddle its national interests. China also features in the ongoing police probe in the funding of NewsClick in India following a report of the New York Times that an alleged Chinese-affiliated US investor Neville Roy Singham had funded the news portal.

The police FIR has accused NewsClick of circulating contents against India’s position in Arunachal Pradesh, while also compromising the northern border of the country. It may be noted that China doesn’t recognize Arunachal Pradesh, and Beijing often issues stapled visas for sportspersons from the Northeastern state of India.