lllustration by Tang Tengfei/GT

 

Thousands of internet trolls from India insulted a Chinese business leader after he received an interview with the Global Times, as experts said the offense, along with other discriminative acts toward the Chinese business community in India, will be a stain on bilateral trade and economic ties that will linger for years.

A top business executive told the Global Times he has been verbally abused and extorted, and he is fearing for the fortune of his company in India, as a great number of Twitter users from India left derogative comments after he shared his insight with the Global Times on the outlook of the industry his company is situated in.

Indian social media users were seen hyper active on social media platforms, leaving a trail of negative, and in many cases, derogative comments on news reports by Chinese media, following a deadly border clash at the Galwan Valley between China and India on June 15.

Other Chinese businesspeople working and living in India also have felt a sharp rise in discrimination against them, the Global Times learned.

The Delhi Hotel and Restaurants Owners Association, following a call by the Indian Confederation of All India Traders to boycott Chinese goods, last week announced Chinese nationals won't be provided accommodation in hotels and guest houses owned by its 3,000 members in the Indian capital, the Hindustan Times reported.

Some Chinese said the issue is moot. The current freeze on cross-border travel, India's tightened visa restrictions in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the fact most Chinese visiting or working in India don't lodge in budget hotels have meant that the hotel restriction won't affect many Chinese.

"When ultranationalism can rise to such a level that hotels in India dare to blatantly discriminate and reject citizens from one particular country, you know this is not something trivial anymore," Richard Ma, an internet industry practitioner who just returned from working in India last year, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Due to the deep integration of the China-India internet technology industry, there are a large number of Chinese working in India, and although many have left since the pandemic, there are many who stayed.

"Now they are given ultimatum to leave Indian hotels till this Saturday," Ma said.

"What India did this week is a stain on its copybook of business environment and international standing, and it would have a long-lasting, detrimental effect on the country's efforts to become a competitive manufacturing base wooing foreign investment," said Dai Yonghong, director of Institute of Bay of Bengal Studies with Shenzhen University.