![]() Also, they said that the classes are like propaganda sessions where the instructor’s sole aim is to justify China and question the US-led world order, be it WTO, intellectual property rights, democracy, and human rights. ![]() The repercussions of non-compliance can result in poor grades, allotment of poor housing and reduction in the fellowship funding. ![]() A group of Indian students studying in a prominent Wuhan-based university informed the author that they could not ask “uncomfortable” questions to their professors or post anything on Wechat that is critical of Chinese systems, if they wished to complete their studies program successfully. A senior journalist informed this author that the Chinese embassy agreed to give an interview only on the condition of not discussing the so-called “sensitive issues”. Such subtle or gross intimidation has always been a Chinese tactic while dealing with international students, journalists and scholars. There is no formal selection process usually, the “suitable” candidates are approached by the Chinese embassy.ĭoes all this come with a cost, paid by China’s positive coverage in global affairs, avoiding Tibet, Uyghurs, South China Sea, and other problem areas? Reportedly, the fellows from across the world are subtly indicated that if they wished to complete the fellowship, they must refrain from discussing sensitive issues like the South China Sea, Tibet, and Uyghurs. The most conspicuous aspect of the fellowship program is that they are as opaque as the CCP. Interestingly, these fellowship programs are managed by China’s foreign ministry and public diplomacy division. Also, they get invitations to the events of the National People’s Congress and access to senior Chinese officials for “choreographed” interviews. Such fellowships include ten months of fully paid stay in Beijing’s posh diplomatic areas, free and guided tours to China’s provinces, a degree in international relations from a Chinese university, and most importantly, a handsome stipend (5,000 yuan). Over the last five years, China has offered hundreds of fellowships to foreign journalists from India, Bangladesh, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Hence, with Xi’s 2016 call to tell China’s better story to the world began China’s unique and less known experiment to influence the global media and shape the discourse in its favour. Having realised that the dominant norms and values of liberal world order would raise questions on its credibility, especially in human rights and freedom of speech, the CCP leadership began a massive propaganda effort to control the narrative. In 2013, with the onset of China’s belt and road project, the phase of sitting by a fence and biding time was over, and Beijing unravelled its revisionist designs to challenge and upturn the liberal world order. What could be the possible reasons? Is it ideological affinity, a genuine love for Beijing’s so-called People’s Republic or some “extraneous” factors? This essay takes a dive into the motivations, compulsions, and intentions of the China-sympathetic voices in some parts of the media. When one compares the media coverage given to human rights violations in Gaza, Balochistan, Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, Myanmar and the other partly imagined and partly real issues of intolerance and minority rights in India with the horrors of Tibet and Xinjiang, one finds that some of the top-level global mainstream media houses enjoying immense credibility and holding a significant market-share refrain from reporting objectively and sufficiently on Tibet and Xinjiang. Even today, when India faces Chinese aggression in full blow, the compromised scholarship finds it painful to target China without reservations.
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