An Indian Air Force’s Chinook helicopter flies over Leh, on June 25, 2020 (AFP)
CHENNAI: As a diplomatic cold war raged between India and China over the Galwan Valley skirmish, Indian expats in China watched with trepidation a nationalist backlash that left them exposed to a vicious troll army on social media. Thousands of software professionals, garment exporters and businessmen settled for years in Dalian’s software hub, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou are being dragged into the border crisis and dubbed traitors and unpatriotic.
These Indians, some of them married to local Chinese woman, are now suffering pangs of guilt, exacerbated by the trolls coming hard at them for refusing to return home. But even as they bear the brunt of vitriolic hashtag campaigns like #Indiansunitedagainstchina and #Indianswillcrushchina, most Indian expats have good reasons to stay on.
The Covid-19 pandemic is no more a worry. Only 490 who lost jobs in China enlisted to board the Vande Bharat evacuation flights on June 20 and 29.
‘Staying back in China for jobs doesn’t make anyone a traitor’
I