INDIA has been making efforts to take advantage of its role as the host of the ongoing G20 summit to promote its own agenda and hurt China's interests, a Chinese think tank affiliated with the country's top spy agency on Saturday (9) said.
A number of world leaders gathered in New Delhi for the two-day summit that kicked off on Saturday barring Chinese president Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
The China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, which is under China's ministry of state security, accused New Delhi of bringing geopolitical "private goods" onto the global stage. It said such a ploy would not only help the country to fulfill its responsibility as the G20 host but create further problems.
The Beijing-based think tank also objected to India holding G20 meetings in its northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims to be its own. Pakistan, India's other rival in south Asia, also protested over staging G20 events in Kashmir.
India held two earlier G20 meetings in disputed territories -- one in Arunachal Pradesh that China also claims, and another in Kashmir, contested by Pakistan.
"In addition to causing diplomatic turmoil and public opinion turmoil, India's actions in hosting meetings in disputed territories have also 'stole the spotlight', sabotaging the cooperative atmosphere of the G20 meeting and hindering the achievement of substantive results," the think tank said in a commentary published on its Wechat account.
The remarks came in the wake of China confirming the absence of Xi at the meeting and premier Li Qiang representing Beijing instead. No official reason was cited for the president's absence.
China issued a 'standard map' just days ahead of the summit that showed Arunachal Pradesh and the disputed Aksai Chin region in the western sector as its parts, drawing sharp reaction from India.
The country also said that it would help in making the G20 summit a success.
The Chinese think tank also said New Delhi has been trying to use the issue of debt-restructuring to attack China and has frequently cooperated with the US and the West in hyping the "debt trap" theory, when Beijing has offered loans to poorer nations to build needed infrastructure such as ports or roads.
India's move could "further create differences and rifts, hinder the international community from reaching consensus and substantive results, and will ultimately cause damage to its own international image and global development interests", the think tank added.
(With Reuters inputs)
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