Beware of Chinese praise.

"India is moving towards becoming the manufacturing hub of the world." "China's official newspaper Global Times shared a list of the world's top 10 countries in manufacturing output. India ranks fifth in that list. Interestingly, the Global Times has specifically mentioned India in its post shared on the social media platform 'X'." News18. Why the sudden praise? Is Xi Jinping trying to follow Sun Tzu's advice, "Be extremely subtle even to the point of formlessness"? goodreads.com. In which case, we should remember Theodore Roosevelt's famous quote, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." The US National Security Strategy document rightly says, "Beijing has ambitions to create an enhanced sphere of influence in the Indo -Pacific and to become the world's leading power." "With its own market bereft of demand, China is dumping low-priced steel into India where demand is robust. A flood of cheap Chinese steel prevents Indian steelmakers from growing since they can't match the prices of Chinese steel which is highly subsidised by the Chinese government at different stages." ET. At the same time, "China has completed and operationalised a bridge connecting the north and south banks of Pangong Lake that allows it to significantly cut the time needed to mobilize troops and equipment, according to new satellite images." HT. "Around 90% of things in supermarkets and home depots in other countries are manufactured in China. They have six times the GDP of India. It is too audacious to say India will become the manufacturing hub," said Infosys co-founder NR Narayan Murthy. ET. "Shifting of supply chains after the pandemic and due to geopolitical reasons has given India a chance to make in India for the world." "For the past few years, India has been striving to boost manufacturing of goods for the world, if not to out-compete China and other Asian countries but to at least join their ranks." ET. Very laudable, indeed. Unfortunately, "India is likely to speed up processing of visas for Chinese technicians, three government officials said, as it looks to overcome delays at manufacturing units that have hindered investments worth billions of dollars." "The reluctance to approve visas led to production losses of $15 billion for the electronics manufacturing sector in the last four years." Reuters. What are Indians doing? Thousands of Indians are working as cyber-slaves in "concrete prisons in casinos-turned-fraud factories inside the Golden Triangle - a region where the jungle borders of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet - which has been notorious as the center of drug trade." man.com. Cyber fraud is happening inside India as well. "The study by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) found that 52 of the top 53 apps have deceptive use UI (user interface)/UX (user experience) practices that can mislead or trick users into doing something they originally did not intend or want to do." DH. Is that what the Global Times is praising? We are told to beware of Greeks bearing gifts (wikipedia). India should beware of Chinese praise. Suspicious. Very.