Within hours of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh landing in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday as part of his grand plan to give an economic underpinning to the relationship with three key East Asian nations in China’s backyard while remaining careful not to upset the larger neighbour, Beijing signalled that it had no compunctions about crossing the red line yet again on the sensitive issue of issuing stapled visas to Indian nationals from Jammu and Kashmir.
In response to queries on whether the issue of stapled visas would figure during talks between the Indian and Chinese leaders, Ma Zhaoxu, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, said in Beijing: “As for the Indian Kashmir visa, our policy is consistent and has stayed unchanged. Though China has friendly relations with India, its policy towards the stapled visas for residents of the state remained unchanged.”
The statement, coming as it does only days ahead of a meeting between Dr Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Hanoi on October 30, elicited a strong response from India.
Government sources travelling with the Prime Minister to Malaysia said on Tuesday: “Our position on the issue of stapled visas has been conveyed unambiguously to the Chinese. The state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part
of India. We expect a uniform practice of issuing visas to Indian nationals, regardless of ethnicity or domicile of the applicant.”
Ahead of the Hanoi meeting, India had made it plain on Sunday that it took grave exception to the Chinese government issuing stapled visas to Indian nationals,
with sources letting it be known that India would raise the issue at the Hanoi meeting.
External affairs minister S.M. Krishna had said that he hoped Beijing would maintain “neutrality” on the affairs related to Jammu and Kashmir and respect India’s sensitivities on the issue.”
China figured prominently during the just-concluded visit of Dr Singh to Japan during talks with his Japanese counterpart Naoto Kan.