How Chinese goods became a victim of Pakistani militants
Beijing’s complicity with Pakistan in shielding terror kingpin from UN prompts calls for a boycott – but doing so will be easier said than done
Last month’s terror strike on an Indian military base by militants from the Pakistani side of the disputed border between the two feuding South Asian nations has caused some unlikely collateral damage: Chinese goods.
Indian social media has been buzzing with calls to boycott Chinese products, a movement that has snowballed in recent days. #BoycottChinaProduct and has attracted thousands of angry tweeple, all vowing to avenge China’s unrelenting support of its “all-weather” friend Pakistan, which Indians blame for repeated attacks in the country.
Why China is caught in India-Pakistan crossfire
“By buying Chinese products you’re funding terrorists. #BoycottChinaProducts. Save our soldiers,” says a tweet from Lilly Mary Pinto, with an accompanying cartoon on how Chinese money ends up funding Pakistani attacks on India.
India and Pakistan have fought four wars, most recently in 1999, and share a disputed border. China, with which India fought one war in 1962 and also shares a disputed border, has been a steadfast ally of Pakistan. India blames Pakistan for sponsoring cross-border terror by running of a proxy war. Indians thus automatically associate terrorism with Pakistan but this time, China has found itself in the cross-hairs of popular rage after siding with Pakistan to prevent terror kingpin Masood Azhar from being listed as a terrorist by the United Nations.
