Feb. 6: India has belatedly invited China to Aero India 2011, being held in Bengaluru from February 9 to 13, after protests by Chinese journalists that there were not allowed to cover it.
They protested to the defence ministry that they could not register for the airshow as China was not among the invited countries. “China has now been invited,” defence sources told this newspaper.
“The Chinese are expected to attend.” It is not clear, though, whether there will be any official participation due to the late invitation. China was earlier invited to Aero India 2009, but had not participated, after which India decided not to invite it this year.
Pakistan and Iran too have not been invited to Aero India 2011. “There is no rethink there,” sources said. Relations between India and China of late have been marked by a continuing row over Beijing’s visa policy under which residents of J&K and Arunachal Pradesh are given stapled visas instead of the regular stamped ones.