Tension with India due to foreign media that stirred up hostility, says China's state-run daily

New Delhi: The current tension between China and India has been due to the foreign media which ramped up rhetoric to stir hostility, China's state-run Global Times has said.

The rhetoric includes "alarming comments alleging that China's motive in securing the South China Sea is to target the Indian Ocean", the article said.

"In their usual fashion, they also tried to overplay the two neighbours' border dispute in the Himalayas and their military and defence dynamics.

“While ignoring the achievements and potential for economic cooperation between the two nations," the Times of India quoted the daily as saying.

The article also blamed the foreign media for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's “changed attitude” towards China's Belt and Road (B&R) initiative.Narendra Modi's “changed attitude” towards China's Belt and Road (B&R) initiative.

The B&R initiative proposes a “maze of roads and corridors” connecting China with Asia and Europe.

"Indian strategists and the government believe there is some geo-strategic design behind the 'Belt and Road' (Silk Road) initiative.

“Now, India has adopted opposing, delaying and hedging measures toward different parts of the initiative," the newspaper said.

"India lies at the important junction of the initiative's Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road," it said.

India has a few objections to China's B&R plan, which includes a China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

India has reportedly conveyed its objection to CPEC as it goes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. On the Silk Road issue, India won't give a blanket endorsement to the project but will support it where the synergies of the two countries meet, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj reportedly said in Beijing.

"The future direction of the Sino-Indian relationship depends on whether the nations' economic activities can alleviate long-standing concerns.

“Industrial cooperation can not only directly benefit the growth of both countries, but can also help reduce distrust between Indians and Chinese, weaken nationalist sentiment in both societies and offer new perspectives on each other's rise," TOI quoted the article as saying.