China agrees to resolve ‘stapled visa’ issue
10 Dec 2010
With the India visit of Chinese premier Wen Jiabao's India visit looming large, China has agreed to resolve the vexed issue of stapled rather than stamped visas for Indian visitors from Jammu and Kashmir.
This practice is seen by India as a refusal by China to accept that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India.
Beijing has now assured New Delhi that it is working to sort out the problem, even though it has not attached any timeframe to it. Government sources said China conveyed to India during the recent RIC (Russia-India-China) meeting in Wuhan that it was trying to address India's concerns on stapled visas.
However, no dramatic announcement on this is expected during Wen Jiabao's visit from 16-18 December. ''The Chinese have said it is not a political issue. It will be resolved soon and we will get to know when it is resolved,'' an official said on sidelines of the India-EU summit in Brussels, where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived on Thursday.
This is the first time that such an assurance has come from China. The matter had been taken up with the Chinese by national security advisor Shivshankar Menon and foreign minister S M Krishna.
New Delhi is hoping that China will gradually, over the next year or so, do away with the policy of issuing stapled visas for citizens of certain Indian states.
The official said Wen's visit will be an occasion to understand each other's sensitivity, particularly on core issues such as Kashmir. ''Kashmir is as integral to us as China considers Tibet, is what we tell them,'' he said.
He added that the issue of Chinese support for India's claim to seat in the United Nations Security Council would come into play only after the first hurdle of winning two-thirds of the votes in the UN general assembly is crossed. However, nobody really expects China to support India's claim.
Though India is careful not to hype Wen's visit, officials said there is enthusiasm on the Chinese side. The visit won't be restricted to ceremonial functions and formal meetings. The premier has expressed his desire to address a public function, and a speech by him is being organised at the Indian Council of World Affairs in New Delhi.
