Experts, journalists in India approached by fake academics for information in suspected China op

Over the past few months, Indian journalists and researchers at leading thinktanks have been approached by people with false credentials claiming to be from Singapore-based institutions with offers to cooperate on projects or to write articles on security and foreign policy, raising concerns of a clandestine propaganda operation by China.

- Rezaul H Laskar and Neeraj Chauhan

Most of the journalists and researchers, who were approached via email, direct messages on LinkedIn, and Facebook or messaging services such as WhatsApp, focus on and write regularly on issues such as India-China relations, India-Japan ties, or the Indo-Pacific region. The emails and messages about writing analytical articles came with offers of payments of up to $400 for a piece of 1,800 words.

However, recent inquiries in Singapore established that at least two of the people who contacted several Indians Julia Chia, a "senior programme manager" with National University of Singapore (NUS) and Jian Qiang Wong, a "researcher" at Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) - do not exist.

Though Indian journalists and researchers have been approached by others claiming to work for different universities and organisations, Chia and Wong were involved in a majority of approaches that were traced by HT. They approached journalists and researchers based in New Delhi and Mumbai, claiming to have read their articles and offering to cooperate on new projects.

Wong, who usually used the direct messaging feature of LinkedIn, recently messaged a Mumbai-based journalist: "So I wanna build a cooperation relation with you. Are you interested? Would you like to write something for me?"

Chia, who claimed to be working on a weekly journal for NUS named "Policy Perception", which features columns on economy, politics, security and technology, sought guest writers who could focus on "hot events happening in the Asia-Pacific region", promising that "your independent analysis will be only for internal and limited reference".