Beijing: China has said that it will retaliate against any Indian move that shows its unease with Beijing’s increasing influence in South Asia through attempts to meddle in China’s diplomatic relations with countries like Nepal and Sri Lanka, Chinese state media warned on Tuesday.

The statement said that India’s failure to meet China’s growing defense and diplomatic clout, unnerved New Delhi on seeing exchanges between Beijing and South Asian countries.

“China hopes India can understand the pursuit of China and regional countries for common development, and be part of it. However, New Delhi doesn’t share this thinking, instead it seeks to balance China,” the Global Times said in a report.

“If such tendencies in India continue, China will have to fight back, because its core interests will have been violated. This is not what we hope for, but the ball is in India’s court,” the nationalistic tabloid Global Times said.

The spokesperson quoted a Hindustan Times report to suggest that the latest reason for India to be unnerved is the visit of Defense minister Chang Wanquan to Sri Lanka and Nepal, starting Sunday.

“The tone of a report in the Hindustan Times sounds vigilant and sour, claiming that Chang’s visit to Nepal and the first ever China-Nepal joint military drill has made New Delhi ‘nervous.’ The news report said that the Nepalese government ‘cannot afford to say no to Beijing’ suggesting that China is carrying a stick around when interacting with its neighbours,” the Global Times said.