BEIJING: Indian media outlets have been hyping that India is preparing to deploy a new batch of anti-aircraft missiles in the northern border region with China, claiming the move is aimed at countering pressure from China.

As the border issue has long been left hanging in the air, Indian media organizations have always made such wrong claims amid important contacts between the two sides, or deliberately inflated tensions, which is not surprising, experts said.

They urged New Delhi to work with Beijing in a more pragmatic way to solve bilateral difficulties.

Despite the good atmosphere during official exchanges between China and India, Indian media outlets have recently sensationalized the “frequent activity of Chinese fighter jets” and India’s potential deployment of a new batch of S-400 anti-aircraft missiles along the China-India border.

Times of India reported recently that India’s capability to detect and destroy hostile fighters, strategic bombers, missiles and drones at long ranges will get another major boost when a new squadron of the S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile systems becomes operational along the northern borders with China in the next two to three months.

It is not surprising to see such wrong remarks by some India media, which aimed to purposely overstate China-India border tension every time China and India hold military talks or have an important contact, Zhao Gancheng, director of the Centre for Asia-Pacific Studies at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, told the Global Times.

Zhao warned that India’s possible deployment of the second batch of S-400 missiles could bring negative effect on bilateral ties.

He pointed out that a sensible Indian government should figure out a way to reach peace and cooperation with Beijing based on mutual trust.

Given the unstable international landscape and India’s domestic problems such as devaluation, inflation and a rebound of COVID-19, a stable and controllable China-India relationship and a friendly-neighbour environment is in line with India’s interests, Lan Jianxue, director of the Department for Asia-Pacific Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times.

Despite the difficulties in China-India relations in recent years, the common ground between the two countries in major regional and global affairs remained, which has become a light in bilateral relations, Lan said.