Tharoor slams Chinese media for ‘silly’ remark

NEW DELHI: Criticising the Chinese media for its jingoism, minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor called a Chinese media report asserting India had forgotten the lessons of 1962 as ���silly���. ���India has come a long way since 1962. Talks of India not learning a lesson are silly,��� Mr Tharoor said in response to a report in China���s state-run newspaper Global Times. The newspaper had carried a report quoting a Chinese analyst slamming India for the Dalai Lama���s visit and warning India for forgetting the lesson of 1962.

���India may have forgotten the lesson of 1962, when its repeated provocation resulted in military clashes. India is on this wrong track again... When the conflict gets sharper and sharper, the Chinese government will have to face it and solve it in a way India has designed,��� Hu Shisheng, a researcher at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, had said.

Such views expressed in the Chinese media are taken by China watchers as a reflection of the thinking within sections of the ruling party. Mr Tharoor also slammed the Chinese media for its jingoism. ���The media there is being irresponsible in escalating tensions,��� he said, adding that ���history does not repeat itself that easily���.

Even as Mr Tharoor slammed the Chinese media, the Chinese government once again expressed its dissatisfaction with India for allowing the Dalai Lama to visit Tawang. Even though the Dalai Lama is halfway through his visit, Beijing continued to express its irritation with the ongoing visit. New Delhi���s explanation that there is no political agenda to the Dalai Lama���s visit has not cut any ice with Beijing, which wanted India to stop the visit.

Foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said India had ignored the Chinese requests to halt the visit. ���The Indian side disregarded the solemn position of China in allowing the Dalai Lama to visit the disputed area of the eastern section of the China-India border region,��� Mr Qin told the media.