Quad effect: 'Asian NATO' rattles China as local press propaganda goes in high gear

The Counsel General of China to Karachi says "do you know what will be the aftermath of playing with fire?", the statement is in response to an article that called on the Indian government to embrace the Quad.

A Chinese diplomat sitting in Karachi is threatening India against joining the Quad, sitting in Karachi, he seems to have forgotten that India isn’t Pakistan, not bound to do China’s bidding and clearly the prospect of an 'Asian NATO' has rattled China as major dailies of the Communist Party have raised it and the not so major ones, like the Global Times, have a lot to say about India, America and the anti-China alliance but few take the sabre-rattling of the Global Times seriously because it ranks quite low in the Communist Party hierarchy.

China Daily is owned by the publicity department of the Communist Party.  

On the India-US alignment, it says: "Border skirmishes with China may prompt India to draw closer to the US side so as to gain more leverage in its negotiations with China but, blindly following the US lead will only push it closer to a head-on conflict with China, which would not be in its interests."

The Chinese military later re-published the piece. Beijing has been leveraging every medium for its propaganda. The wire service of the Chinese state Xinhua has also weighed in. Their piece is about the upcoming Malabar exercise and India's invitation to Australia.

Xinhua says, "Quad members need to realize that attempting to stir up rivalry in the region goes against the trend of the times and will definitely not be accepted by major countries worldwide."

The Chinese press is living in a bubble of its own. A Reuters report talks about the alliances that are taking shape in Asia. It says that several Asian countries are now building an alliance among themselves informally.

China claims that America and its so-called "cold war mentality" is the driving force behind anti-china alliances in Asia but Reuters reports that Asian countries are joining hands without American support. The piece goes on to talk about how the Australian prime minister inaugurated the Shangri-la dialogue - an inter-governmental security forum that is attended by defence ministers, heads of ministries and military chiefs of more than 20 Asia-pacific states.

Mike Pompeo's Asia tour has made Beijing more worried after India, the US. secretary of state Mike Pompeo will be visiting Sri Lanka and the Maldives. It is a visit which would highlight how China bullies smaller countries with its debt traps. So even before Pompeo kicked off his Asia trip, China accused America of meddling in Sri Lanka.

"The US official's remarks are brimming with cold war mentality and hegemony, which fully expose their usual practice of interfering in other countries' internal affairs by bullying small and medium-sized countries into picking sides," Zhao Lijian, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said.

"China believes that all counties, big or small, have the right to independently develop their foreign relations based on their own interests. any attempts to use pressure and coercion to obstruct normal cooperation and exchanges between countries will not succeed. in the end, they will become the scorn of history, the laughing stock of the international community," Lijian added.

An official of the US state department had said that Sri Lanka must make "tough choices" to ensure its economic independence over the long term. In Colombo, Pompeo is expected to make an appeal to the Rajapaksas for greater engagement with America and its allies - a shift like that will only give the anti-china alliance more power.