Fake Quotes Attributed To World Leaders On Backing India Over China
BOOM found that no such public statements were made by the world leaders recently.
A graphic with a set of statements from world leaders voicing against China and lending their support to India is fake. This graphic is viral as tensions rise between both countries along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh after a clash at the Pangong Lake in Eastern Ladakh between both troops.
The graphic shared by Postcard News, a fake news website, attributes the statements to the head-of-states from Russia, Japan, United States and Israel.
BOOM has previously debunked several pieces of disinformation shared by Postcard and its founder Mahesh Hegde.
The graphic includes photos of United States President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Japenese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu making statements like, "Those who are planning to attack India need to face us"
BOOM received the image on its WhatsApp helpline number (7700906111) inquiring about it.
Postcard News had posted the viral graphic on May 30, 2020
Click here to view an archive.
Also Read: Dated Pics Shared With False Claim Of China Killing 158 Indian Soldiers
FACT-CHECK
We checked recent statements made the four leaders in the graphic - United States President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Japenese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the recent tensions between India and China. We also checked for the response of each country about the same and did not find any such statement made by either by the leaders or as the official response of the said country.
Here's what these countries and their top leaders have said on the India - China standoff as of writing this article
United States
The graphic shows Donald Trump, President, the United States of India as saying "India is our friend nation and we are always with India".
A google search showed that on May 27, 2020, United States President Donald Trump had tweeted and offered to mediate between India and China the border dispute between both the countries, however, both India and China had rejected the offer.
We have informed both India and China that the United States is ready, willing and able to mediate or arbitrate their now raging border dispute. Thank you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2020
A day later, Trump had claimed that he had spoken to Prime Minister Modi who was "not in a good mood about what is going on with China"
Both the leaders had reportedly discussed the border tension along with other issues in a telephonic conversation between Modi and Trump on June 2, 2020.
However, we did not find any public statement by Trump stating that, "India is our friend nation and we are always with India." as claimed in the viral graphic posted on May 30, 2020.
Russia
The graphic shows Russian President Vladimir Putin as saying, "We are always with India."
On June 1, 2020, Russia had expressed concern over the standoff in Ladakh along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in a statement made by the Russian Deputy Ambassador to India, Roman Babushkin to Economic Times.
"Of course we are worried with the current situation at LAC. However, as we know, there are dedicated specific mechanisms and tools developed by both countries including hotlines, special representatives dialogue, and even informal summits. We are confident that the Indian and Chinese friends are duly equipped to find way out for mutual satisfaction. We would encourage every endeavour in this regard," Babushkin had said.
Additionally, we did not find any public statement made by Russian President Putin saying, "We are always with India" in relation to the ongoing border tensions with China.
Israel And Japan
The graphic shows Shinzō Abe of Japan and Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel saying, "If incase China attacks India, the end of China will begin! We are with India" and "Those who are planning to attack India need to face us" respectively.
BOOM did not find any media reports even in local language media outlets claiming Japenese prime minister Abe Or Israel prime minister Netanyahu made such statements including Israel saying whoever plans to attack India, "needs to face them".
On performing a keyword search with the fake quotes on Facebook, we found that the misleading graphic was previously viral and dated back at least to 2018.
Click here to view an archive.
BOOM has debunked misinformation around the issue as tensions rise between both nations and debunked old and unrelated pictures falsely shared claiming China had attacked India killing 158 soldiers.
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