Jaishankar refuses to take China’s bait

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Ravi Shanker Kapoor

China’s behavior over the COVID-19 outbreak seems to a case of, as the Hindi saying goes, ‘Chori upar se seena zore’—that is, rudeness after theft. In the normal course, a person caught after stealing or some other criminality is expected to be apologetic and humble; the expression is used when such a person exhibits insolence. This is exactly what Beijing is doing after have inflicted a massive pain on mankind in the form of the coronavirus.

Insolence is mixed with self-righteousness and arrogance. Beijing wants the world to forget that the deadly virus emanated from China and spread all over the world so devastatingly because of its own incompetence and cavalier attitude. It also tried to peddle an absolutely baseless conspiracy theory that American soldiers did the mischief. Now, it is making shrill noises about “stigmatizing China.”

In a tweet, the Chinese ambassador to India, Sun Weidong, said, “[Foreign Minister] “Wang Yi said it’s not acceptable and detrimental to international cooperation to label the virus and stigmatize China, hope India oppose such narrow mindset.”

Sun also made a claim of dubitable veracity that External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar “agreed not to label the virus and the international community should send strong signal of solidarity.”

A career diplomat, Jaishankar refused to confirm the claim, without offending the Chinese. He tweeted, “Discussed with State Councilor and FM Wang Yi of <a class="_58cn" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/china?source=feed_text&epa=HASHTAG&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARDRg17rZbreNNzFEtk2gTlb7E8zaZKR_g7jxKb84SVJ_hvIv2p1FBKYc-tVGzf8J9_FyAZt_ORWD6bQ6S3j-_SLJ_GjPXfSACqcKvgQbCV_roevZ_877hUCs5SfqgVNTnEsg3QneKKI64A5uSdT6rV_sTNIKY0DYzvSfRe-TqjpZWZp4UWvy2T1SxHwvo9rw_dgr9w6Z9D5tsaxwdfxQlDKot1nvYI8V-dWgX8PlvJJNGK1j3VCgm2ZLwTvOLHSVE3rGfsGl720bjEMmiUjhepxJlkQJrP5_BO9pKCJ9t8wh-IxWeY8uau73WQq0-fnE6s2B3X_nS6b-ARqs67oWPU&__tn__=%2ANK-R" data-ft="{"type":104,"tn":"*N"}"><span class="_5afx"><span class="_58cl _5afz" aria-label="hashtag">#</span><span class="_58cm">China</span></span></a> our working together in combating <a class="_58cn" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/covid19?source=feed_text&epa=HASHTAG&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARDRg17rZbreNNzFEtk2gTlb7E8zaZKR_g7jxKb84SVJ_hvIv2p1FBKYc-tVGzf8J9_FyAZt_ORWD6bQ6S3j-_SLJ_GjPXfSACqcKvgQbCV_roevZ_877hUCs5SfqgVNTnEsg3QneKKI64A5uSdT6rV_sTNIKY0DYzvSfRe-TqjpZWZp4UWvy2T1SxHwvo9rw_dgr9w6Z9D5tsaxwdfxQlDKot1nvYI8V-dWgX8PlvJJNGK1j3VCgm2ZLwTvOLHSVE3rGfsGl720bjEMmiUjhepxJlkQJrP5_BO9pKCJ9t8wh-IxWeY8uau73WQq0-fnE6s2B3X_nS6b-ARqs67oWPU&__tn__=%2ANK-R" data-ft="{"type":104,"tn":"*N"}"><span class="_5afx"><span class="_58cl _5afz" aria-label="hashtag">#</span><span class="_58cm">COVID19</span></span></a>. Agreed to build further on our bilateral efforts in this domain. Exchanged views on the forthcoming <a class="_58cn" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/g20?source=feed_text&epa=HASHTAG&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARDRg17rZbreNNzFEtk2gTlb7E8zaZKR_g7jxKb84SVJ_hvIv2p1FBKYc-tVGzf8J9_FyAZt_ORWD6bQ6S3j-_SLJ_GjPXfSACqcKvgQbCV_roevZ_877hUCs5SfqgVNTnEsg3QneKKI64A5uSdT6rV_sTNIKY0DYzvSfRe-TqjpZWZp4UWvy2T1SxHwvo9rw_dgr9w6Z9D5tsaxwdfxQlDKot1nvYI8V-dWgX8PlvJJNGK1j3VCgm2ZLwTvOLHSVE3rGfsGl720bjEMmiUjhepxJlkQJrP5_BO9pKCJ9t8wh-IxWeY8uau73WQq0-fnE6s2B3X_nS6b-ARqs67oWPU&__tn__=%2ANK-R" data-ft="{"type":104,"tn":"*N"}"><span class="_5afx"><span class="_58cl _5afz" aria-label="hashtag">#</span><span class="_58cm">G20</span></span></a> Summit. Global challenges require global cooperation.”

This is a brilliantly unexceptional statement: brilliant because, by refusing to confirm the stigmatization party, it didn’t provide Beijing any opportunity to tell the world that India has supporting its position; and unexceptional because it trite—working together, bilateral efforts, global challenges, global cooperation.

Jaishankar has done well. We hope that India continues to think and act independently, remaining untouched by the Chinese propaganda and narrative. This will be extremely difficult, for many people and organizations, like the mainstream American journalists and the World Health Organization have already fallen prey to it.

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