Strategic expert Brahma Chellaney has objected to the spin given by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) mouthpiece Global Times to his tweet that talked about the deaths of General Bipin Rawat on Wednesday and Taiwan’s chief of general staff General Shen Yi-ming last year.

Global Times used the tweet put out by Brahma Chellaney to say that the Indian strategic expert’s “view is like suspecting the US played a role in the crash”. Global Times linked it to India-Russia defence deals.

Taiwan’s top military officer General Shen Yi-ming died when his Black Howk helicopter crashed in the mountains north of the island country in January 2020

The CCP mouthpiece said the US’s role was suspected “because India and Russia are moving forward with the delivery of a Russian S-400 missile defence system, which the US strongly opposed”.

Chellaney had put out a Twitter thread saying, “At a time when China's 20-month-long border aggression has resulted in a warlike situation along the Himalayan front, the tragic death of India's chief of defense staff, Gen Rawat, his wife and 11 other military personnel in a helicopter crash couldn't have come at a worse time.”

“Gen Rawat's death has an eerie parallel with the helicopter crash in early 2020 that killed Taiwan's chief of general staff, Gen Shen Yi-ming, and seven others, including two major generals. Each helicopter crash eliminated a key figure in the defence against PRC's aggression.”

Chellaney’s Twitter post apparently irked the Chinese ruling party evoking a spin on the air crash by Global Times. Interestingly, Global Times’ twist to Chellaney’s tweet came almost two hours after he had dismissed an outside hand behind the two air crashes in India and Taiwan the two countries, China has territorial disputes and is showing aggressive posturing over a year.

Before Global Times gave it a spin, Chellaney had said, “The strange parallel [between the two air crashes] doesn't mean there was any connection between the two helicopter crashes or an outside hand. If anything, each crash has raised important internal questions, especially about maintenance of military helicopters transporting top generals.”

Clearly, Chellaney pointed to quality of maintenance of military helicopters that are used for transporting top generals.

Responding to Golbal Times’ Twitter comment, Chellaney rebutted its claim linking the crashes to the US. His wrote on Twitter: “Here's the CCP mouthpiece misusing my tweet from a thread to accuse US of being behind the helicopter crash that killed the top Indian general because India is buying Russian S-400 system! Its tweet sadly points to the depraved mindset of the CCP folks.”


While General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 others died in the air crash on Wednesday, Taiwan’s top military officer General Shen Yi-ming died when his Black Howk helicopter crashed in the mountains north of the island country in January 2020.