Did The Wire Publish Report On 'China Annexing Arunachal Pradesh & Sikkim'?

Have you seen this image on social media? The headline reads 'China is all set to annex Arundachal Pradesh and Sikkim as a part of South Tibet after Modi govt was successfully coerced by Beijing (sic)'.

Yes you heard it right “Arundachal Pradesh”. This image attributes the article to Indian news website The Wire.

What's the truth?

So, what’s the truth? Let’s find out.

Step 1: We went through The Wire’s social media platforms and its website but didn’t find any such article. We also checked all the recent articles authored by Pravin Sawhney for The Wire but couldn’t find the viral one.

Step 2: The Wire also released a statement denying publication of any such article. Not just that, the author himself posted on X (formerly Twitter) that he had not written this article.

Step 3: But then, where is the image coming from? We did a Google reverse image search. This led us to an article published by an organisation called Crisis Group. It was published in November 2023 and carried the viral image.

Step 4: Apart from Arunachal’s incorrect spelling, even the date format in the viral screenshot is not the same as the one used by The Wire.

So, it’s safe to say this is disinformation, done on purpose to propagate a certain narrative.

This is Kaustav from Teen Fact-Checking Network India Season 2. See you next time!