'India could face military pressure from China, Pakistan & Nepal': Chinese mouthpiece

After the violent clashes in the Galwan valley leading to loss of lives of 20 Indian soldiers and as per reports over 40 casualties on the Chinese side, China has now released a provocative statement through the state-backed mouthpiece Global Times, threatening India that it "could face military pressure" from China, Pakistan or even Nepal if tensions along the border continue to escalate.

The Chinese mouthpiece has quoted a research fellow at the Institute of International Relations of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Hu Zhiyong in its one-sided and biased editorial stating, "India has engaged in border disputes with China, Pakistan and Nepal at the same time. As Pakistan is a reliable strategic partner of China, and Nepal also has close ties with China, and both of them are key partners under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, if India escalates border tensions, it could face military pressure from two or even three fronts, which is far beyond India's military capability and this might lead to a disastrous defeat for India."

READ | LAC Faceoff: PM Modi Warns China, Says 'India Capable Of Befitting Reply If Instigated'

READ | Faceoff With China At LAC: All 4 Injured Jawans Now Stable Confirms Indian Army

Despite the violent clashes being a premeditated and planned action by the Peoples Liberation Army, the Chinese mouthpiece demanded that India should carry out a thorough investigation into the incident and severely punish those who will be held accountable so as to ensure that such incidents do not happen again. 

"India must ensure that such incidents do not happen again. India must not misjudge the current situation, or underestimate China's firm will safeguard its territorial sovereignty," the editorial said further.

Pakistan is known to be arch-rival facilitating terrorist infiltration bids to cause unrest in India, however, after the Chinese threat of a military pressure involving Nepal too, it only becomes obvious that Nepal's move of making amendments to its map has a Chinese role. 

China has refrained from disclosing the number of casualties of their soldiers calling it a 'goodwill gesture'. China gave a farcical reason that it is not releasing the number of casualties because it does not want people in the two countries to get further impacted; disclosure of numbers would lead to a comparison of casualties that could incite nationalistic sentiments on both sides, elevating the tension.

READ | G7 Ministers Urges China To Reconsider New Hong Kong Security Laws

READ | 'Forces Will Give Befitting Reply': MoS Defence Says China 'pre-planned' Attack At LAC

However, with the violent stand-off in Galwan, China's continuous infiltration bid and strong-arming has outraged the citizens across the country and there is an anti-China movement gathering momentum with people pledging to boycott Chinese products. There have been protests against China's aggressive stand with Chinese President Xi Jinping's effigies burnt in Varanasi, while Chinese television sets were destroyed. Also, people gathered to stage protests outside the Chinese embassy in Delhi as well as several other consulates across the country on Wednesday.

Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) while speaking with Republic TV has also called for a boycott of about 3,000 Chinese products. He asserted that seven crore traders of the country have decided to boycott Chinese products.

"I may not be able to go on the border to fight the Chinese, but what I can do is at my level, I can boycott the Chinese products and at the level of the traders across the country," Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary-General of CAIT resolved.

(With ANI Inputs)