India has strongly criticised Chinese livestreamers who filmed in poorer areas of Dhaka and falsely presented the footage as scenes from New Delhi while making derogatory comments about living conditions.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal raised the issue during the regular weekly media briefing on Tuesday (November 10). He described efforts to present a distorted picture of any country as “highly unfortunate” and said that peddling false narratives only undermines the credibility of those involved and those behind them.
He urged the authorities concerned to take appropriate action against the individuals.
The remarks followed an investigation by the Bangladeshi newspaper Prothom Alo, which reported that scores of Chinese nationals—local estimates put the number at around 150 or higher—had been livestreaming for months from low-income neighbourhoods such as Uttara’s Sector 12 and Tekpara in Dhaka.
The streamers broadcast on Chinese platforms including WeChat and Douyin, claiming the locations were in New Delhi while criticising sanitation, housing, and daily life.
In one widely cited instance, a streamer identifying herself as Mianmian (from China’s Sichuan province) filmed near a canal in Uttara on November 1 and told viewers: “This is New Delhi. Their homes are extremely dirty. There isn’t even a fan inside the tin-roofed houses. This place is quite underdeveloped, dirty and unhygienic, and the law-and-order situation is poor.” Another individual, identified as Wang Wei, was filmed at tea stalls in Tekpara and made derogatory remarks claiming the tea was prepared using “cow urine.”
India has raised the matter in regular discussions with China and called for strict action against those responsible for the misleading content. The activity has drawn attention to the deliberate misrepresentation of one country’s conditions as another’s, aimed at Chinese audiences.