There’s a war of narratives being fought between China and much of the rest of the world about how the Covid-19 pandemic began and who’s responsible. Beijing has embarked on a misinformation campaign to try to erase its tracks and absolve itself of guilt by directing the blame onto other nations, especially the United States.

China’s friendly diplomatic overtures to India are part of that effort, and are intended to persuade New Delhi to support Beijing’s confected version of how and where the disease originated. So far, India has played along.

The Indian government hasn’t publicly blamed any nation for causing the pandemic, though it has matter-of-factly acknowledged that the first case was reported in China. But that reflects typical Indian foreign policy behaviour rather than indicating any agreement with Beijing.

“67% of Indians polled blamed China for the pandemic and 50% said they believed that calling it the ‘Chinese virus’ wasn’t racist.”

Until a fortnight ago, relations between China and India were less than harmonious, particularly after the frostiness that followed China’s advocacy on Pakistan’s behalf over the Kashmir issue at the United Nations last August.

Please click here to read the full “China’s Covid-19 charm offensive isn’t fooling India” article published at The Strategist, written by Griffith Asia Institute Research Assistant, Aakriti Bachhawat.