An editorial in the Chinese state run daily affiliated with the People’s daily flagship has warned India about the prospects of a blowback as tensions between New Delhi and Beijing spiralled over the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh. The editorial signalled that the turbulence in Kashmir offered China a geopolitical option of interference.

In a separate article also in the Global Times, a top official from the Communist Party of China (CPC), Zhu Weiqun, slammed India for “losing its dignity as a big power by playing around with such a figure (Dalai Lama).” Mr. Zhu’s remarks are particularly significant as he was previously the deputy head of the United Front Work Department — the Party institution dealing with Tibet policy.

The editorial linked the Dalai Lama’s visit as India’s riposte to China’s objections to listing Masood Azhar, the head of the Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammad group as an international terrorist in the UN 1267 committee, as well as Beijing’s stalling of New Delhi’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

“But this is a clumsy and rude move (of inviting Dalai Lama)”, the daily said. Instead, it counselled New Delhi to view the big picture. “The Dalai is a highly politicised symbol in China's diplomacy. For any country, its attitude toward the Dalai Lama almost affects the entire relationship with China.”

It added: “The West has fully recognised the nature of the Dalai as a diplomatic card and is extremely prudent in using it. When the Dalai travels to the capital of a Western country, who will meet him, when and where would be carefully weighed.” But “New Delhi is bucking the trend and treating him as a favourite,” the daily said, pointing to the reception accorded to Dalai Lama in December by President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

In response to a query, Lin Minwang, Professor at Fudan University told The Hindu that, “It would be unwise for India to use the Dalai Lama card. The Indian side must realise the sensitivity of this issue.”

The editorial signalled that India would be at the receiving end if the two countries turned into “open rivals”. “If New Delhi ruins the Sino-India ties and the two countries turn into open rivals, can India afford the consequence?” “With a GDP several times higher than that of India, military capabilities that can reach the Indian Ocean and having good relations with India's peripheral nations, coupled with the fact that India's turbulent northern state borders China, if China engages in a geopolitical game with India, will Beijing lose to New Delhi?” The daily said that “New Delhi probably overestimates its leverage in the bilateral ties with China.”

The edit highlighted that while India’s dissatisfaction with China was in the multilateral arena, the Dalai Lama question was purely China's domestic issue. “China also suffered setbacks when applying for the membership of international organisations. Its proposal to blacklist some terrorist group had also been refused. However, as dissatisfied as China was, it didn't make an issue of them.”