Global social media users react strongly to racist Chinese video on Doklam standoff

A Chinese state media video blasting India over the military standoff in Doklam is drawing condemnation from social media users across the globe over its racist portrayal of what appears to be a Sikh Indian Army troop.

The video comes amid more than a two-month old border standoff between the armies of two Asian powers, which have been locked in a tense standoff since June 18, when Indian troops thwarted a road construction attempt by a Chinese party on the strategically located Doklam Plateau.

The three-minute twenty-two second English clip, published by China’s official news agency Xinhua, features a Chinese actor sporting a turban and wearing a dishevelled beard. Part of Xinhua’s Spark series, the video shows the Chinese-turbaned character feigning an Indian English accent.

Titled Seven Sins, the female anchor in the video accuses India of bullying the common neighbour Bhutan by unilaterally sending troops to disputed territory of the Doklam Plateau. A Chinese character apparently playing a Bhutanese citizen is seen intimidated in front of a scissor-wielding turbaned character.

“Don’t move, this is Bhutan’s home. I am here protecting it,” the turbaned actor says, to which the person playing the Bhutanese moves his head sideways in disagreement.

“Is this your home here?” the anchor asks, only to be responded with silence.

The video falsely represents that Bhutan had admitted to Doklam being a Chinese territory and as a reluctant partner to India.

“Both India and the international community have recognised Doklam as part of China,” the Xinhua anchor can be heard saying.

The Bhutanese leadership, however, calls Doklam a disputed territory, and accuses Beijing of violating a longstanding status quo.

In another scene from the controversial video, the Chinese anchor mockingly remarks that “it is impossible to wake a guy that is pretending to be asleep.”

The BBC notes that the English language video, which was put up on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube, was mainly meant for the consumption of international audiences. All three sites are banned in China.

However, the target audiences reacted rather critically to the video.

Jake Novac, a New York-based columnist at NBC Universal, dubbed the video as “government-sanctioned racism.”

Neelima Mahajan, a visiting scholar at University of California’s Berkeley School of Journalism, wrote on Twitter,

A Twitter account of what appears to be a Western expatriate in China, reacted,

A Swedish writer based in Taiwan wrote on Twitter,