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China’s United Front Work’s Efforts to Weaken India

The Epoch Times reported that it has received information from several sources that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using its United Front Work Department to lobby India’s scholars, news reporters, and companies. The goal is to weaken India and eventually force it to yield to the CCP.

The article reported several examples:

Some well-known Indian newspapers published whole-page commentaries by Sun Weidong, China’s Ambassador to India, on the issues of Tibet, Hong Kong, COVID-19, and the CCP’s 100th Anniversary. The purpose of these commentaries was to promote the CCP’s viewpoint. For example, The Hindu (one of India’s  main daily newspapers) published Sun’s commentary that Beijing’s passing the national security law in Hong Kong was good for India’s interests and therefore India should respect and support the CCP’s efforts in having passed this law in Hong Kong.

An anonymous New Delhi source said that China’s United Front Work Department has established groups to do lobbying in all key departments in every South Asian country.

The CCP is pushing its own leadership on Buddhism over its rival India. Ever since 2006, Beijing has hosted the World Buddhist Forum (WBF). The CCP controlled Panchen Lama gives a speech each time but the Dalai Lamar is never invited. Beijing even promoted its Belt & Road Initiative at the 2018 WBF conference.

Beijing is also promoting Lumbini in Nepal. Lumbini is the place where, according to Buddhist tradition, Queen Mahamayadevi gave birth to Siddhartha Gautama around 563. In promoting it as a main Buddhist site, Beijing is attempting to counter India which has the most important Buddhist pilgrimage centers. Beijing built the Zhong Hua Chinese Buddhist Monastery in Lumbini. The Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation (APEC) also has a 3-billion-dollar project for the Lumbini Recovery Plan.

The Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), under the CCP’s United Front Works Department, directs many friendship associations in other countries. When the world criticized the CCP for its national security law in Hong Kong, many friendship associations in South Asia published a joint statement to support the CCP. Also, when Beijing and India had a border clash, the India-China Friendship Association stated that it was “making every effort to promote peace (with China) among Indians.”

Source: Epoch Times, July 31, 2021
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/7/31/n13129773.htm