The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken its first significant step against China as tensions between India and Pakistan start to ease after a ceasefire mediated by the United States earlier this week. The government has blocked the social media accounts of Beijing’s state-owned Global Times and Xinhua News Agency for disseminating anti-India propaganda during the recent India-Pakistan conflict.
The Indian government claims that Xinhua, a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has been disseminating propaganda, fake news, and false information against India for years. Meanwhile, during Operation Sindoor, the state-owned Global Times disseminated false information and lies about India, for which the Indian ambassador to Beijing also chastised the publication.
In an attempt to spread the myth that India’s military strike against Pakistan was unprovoked, Global Times has called India’s Operation Sindoor a “unilateral action.” In an effort to deter investors from Indian markets, the state-run newspaper was also aggressively pushing the idea that India was incapable of waging a protracted war.
(1/n) Dear @globaltimesnews , we would recommend you verify your facts and cross-examine your sources before pushing out this kind of dis-information. https://t.co/xMvN6hmrhe
— India in China (@EOIBeijing) May 7, 2025
Using “Pakistan Army sources,” the journal published a number of phony news items, including one that eventually turned out to be untrue and claimed that India’s $1.5 billion S-400 air defense system in Adampur had been destroyed by Pakistan’s JF-17 Thunder hypersonic missiles. Even after the Indian military vehemently denied these allegations, Chinese official media did not even revise their erroneous accounts.
As both the JF-17 and J-10C fighter jets are produced by Beijing-owned Avic Chengdu Aircraft Co. Ltd., whose stock surged more than 36% in two sessions of Shenzhen trading after claims that Chinese-made fighter jets downed Indian Rafael aircraft, it is thought that Chinese media reports were intended to increase the shares of China’s state-owned aerospace.
It is important to note, the Pakistani side failed to show an iota of evidence for this or any other claim. Whereas the Indian side had produced satellite imagery and location data as well as debris of Chinese PL-15 missiles which malfunctioned and failed to hit their designated target.
As tensions between India and Pakistan increased, Chinese media, citing experts’, also attempted to spread the idea of a “two-front war” in an effort to frighten and frighten Indian public. Social media accounts with Chinese support also posted manipulated or phony footage of the Pakistan Air Force taking down Indian fighter jets.
At the publication time of this article, ForPol could access the Global Times but Xinhua news remains inaccessible.
