Chinese diplomat slams BJP leader who said Pak, China behind Delhi pollution

BJP leader Vineet Agarwal Sharda was in the news on Tuesday for accusing Pakistan and China of "releasing poisonous gas" that caused the heightened pollution in Delhi-NCR over the past week. Sharda had become very popular during the campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls, when his chant of "Kamal, Kamal, Kamal...", soliciting votes in the name of the BJP's election symbol, had gone viral.

While many found Sharda's allegations to be a source of amusement, a senior Chinese diplomat was not impressed. Lijian Zhao, deputy director general, Information Department, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Thursday tweeted a clip of Sharda speaking on the issue. Lijian described Sharda as a joker and felt China was being considered like "God". Lijian wrote, "What a joker! China sometimes takes the blame, but this time it took the God class blame. One may not draw such a conclusion, even if he or she thinks by the feet."

Lijian Zhao has had a reputation of being a trail-blazer in terms of his contributions to advancing China's interests on Twitter. Lijian joined Twitter in 2010 and has acquired over 2 lakh followers since. He has been a passionate defender of China's interests, particularly on contentious issues such as human rights and the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang and more recently, the mass protests in Hong Kong.

Lijian had served as deputy chief of the Chinese diplomatic mission in Islamabad for a period of four years until August this year, passionately batting for ties between the two countries. Lijian even briefly prefixed "Muhammad" to his Twitter name in 2017 amid reports China had banned several Islamic names in Xinjiang, including Muhammad.

Lijian is no stranger to spats on Twitter. In July, Lijian Zhao had tweeted, "“If you're in Washington, D.C., you know the white never go to the SW area, because it's an area for the black & Latin. There's a saying ‘black in & white out’, which means that as long as a black family enters, white people will quit, & price of the apartment will fall sharply." The tweet was in response to a statement by 22 countries criticising China for mass detentions of Muslims in Xinjiang.

Zhao was forced to delete his tweet following outrage against the racist insinuations. Susan Rice, who had served as the US ambassador to the UN under president Barack Obama, described Lijian Zhao as a “racist disgrace. And shockingly ignorant too".

Sharda is not the first foreigner to be labelled a joke by Lijian Zhao. Lijian Zhao had criticised former Pakistan ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani. In October 2018, Haqqani, a prominent critic of the Pakistan military had tweeted a news article on China allegedly forcing Uighur Muslims to eat pork. Lijian Zhao tweeted, "Joke of the day. A person without soul and nationality is joining a groundless attack against China..."