Round The World

New Delhi, 18 January 2011

Stapled Visa Issue

CHINA AGAIN POKES INDIA

By Monish Tourangbam

Research Scholar, School of International Studies (JNU)

China, yet again, did what it does best: Keep India guessing. Reports of the Chinese Embassy issuing stapled visas to two Indians domiciled in Arunachal Pradesh have muddied diplomatic waters. A weightlifter Yukar Sibi and the Arunachal Weightlifting Federation’s President Abrham Techi, (a recruited havaldar in the Army) were to participate in a major weightlifting competition in China. But due to their stapled visas, the immigration authorities at the airport stopped them.

Specially against the backdrop of a 9 November 2009 External Affairs Ministry travel advisory issued cautioning Indian citizens that Chinese visas issued on separate papers stapled to passports would not be considered valid for travel out of the country. This was done in the wake of reports of stapled visas being issued to Jammu and Kashmir residents.

Both the Defence Minister A.K. Antony and the External Affairs Ministry have criticised the inconsistency of the Chinese Establishment. But, at this juncture, the Union Government seems to be maintaining restraint before jumping to conclusions. The official statements and responses are more general in nature, largely rejecting any question being raised on the sovereignty and integrity of India, reemphasizing that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India.

Importantly, Union Government sources assert, “This practice is certainly tied to China's position on Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh. One could infer various conclusions, but as far as India is concerned, anything that questions the status of these two States won't be acceptable. These States are as important to us as the Tibet issue is to China.

Pertinently, since some time, Beijing has been deliberately making its visa policy inconsistent to unsettle Indian policy minds and give characteristic diplomatic messages of its lingering differences with New Delhi on matters of core interest. Last year, the Chinese Government refused to issue a visa to the Northern Army Commander Lt Gen B S Jaswal on the grounds that his jurisdiction included J&K. The denial of visa on the flimsy ground that he was in command of J&K did not go down well with New Delhi and as a result, defence exchanges between the two countries were stalled.

But, before generalizations are stamped, it should be understood that very different conclusions can be drawn from the stapled visas issued to residents of J&K and to those of Arunachal Pradesh. J&K is a matter of dispute between India and Pakistan, and thus, issuing stapled visas to domiciles of J&K amounts to questioning India’s claim and indirectly reiterates Beijing’s ambivalent attitude towards the Kashmir issue and its well expected tilt toward Pakistan.

Hence, making it easier for the Indian Establishment to come out with a strong demarche. It is widely known that New Delhi does not tolerate any external interference on the Kashmir subject, which it considers strictly bilateral.

But, in the case of Arunachal Pradesh, the parties in dispute are India and China. Beijing still claims Arunachal as its own territory and in the past has often denied visas to residents of Arunachal, often on a lame excuse that the State’s people were Chinese citizens and hence did not require visas to travel to China. According to sources, in 2007, China denied a visa to an IAS officer Ganesh Koyu who hailed from Arunachal and was a member of a 107-strong IAS officers’ team on a management programme to China. This had resulted in the Government cancelling the trip for the entire batch.

Thus, keeping the past scenario in mind, some Indian and Chinese analysts read the stapled visa as a positive signal. They argue that China has all along considered Arunachal as its own territory and its people as Chinese citizens, the fact that visas have been issued at all, even if stapled could be a welcome sign.

It means that Beijing is accepting Arunachal as a disputed territory and hence opening a window of opportunity towards taking the border talks to the next level. Chinese analysts like Hu Shisheng of the State-run China Institute of Contemporary International Relations in Beijing are reported to have commented that the recent decision is a possible “concession” to India, “there must have been a change in policy for such a thing to happen,” he added.

Nevertheless, it will be wrong to read too much into this single incident and expect a comprehensive package. It is at best being seen as a small pebble thrown into the largely still and stagnant Chinese policy toward Arunachal. Notably, India’s policy has and should remain constant: that Arunachal is an Indian State, an integral part of India and the people of Arunachal are Indians to the core. Incidentally, the latest episode has happened within a month of the Chinese Premier Wen Jaibao assuring New Delhi of taking serious note of India’s concerns vis-à-vis the stapled visa issue.

Significantly, the status quo is in India’s advantage, with Arunachal an integral part of the country and its people as Indian as anyone else within the Indian Republic. No points for guessing that China wants changes in its favour. The protracted border dispute between the two Asian giants has defined much of how New Delhi and Beijing feel about each other at the core.

While Indian and Chinese leaders often loudly proclaim the new synergy between the two countries over various international issues, the new bonhomie if there is one, has failed to translate into new confidence as far as core issues of interest are concerned. There have also been reports of Chinese troops having intruded into Indian territory along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in South-Eastern Ladakh region in September-October 2010.

Interestingly, around the same time when this visa row was playing out in the media, India’s Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao speaking at the Singapore Consortium for China-India Dialogue on ‘Rabindranath Tagore’s Vision of India and China: a Twenty First Century Perspective’, sought congruence and common ground and argued against a conflicted and contest-ridden relationship between New Delhi and Beijing.

Expectedly, diplomatic efforts will be on to downplay the visa row so as to circumvent this irritant from inflicting a larger damage on other components of the comprehensive relationship. But at the same it should be made plain that India is not ready to tolerate or compromise on sensitive issues like Arunachal and J&K for the sake of furthering Sino-Indian ties.

During the Chinese Premier’s visit, New Delhi made the right move towards a restraint aggression, by diverting from the norm and not making any reference to Chinese sovereignty on Tibet and the ‘One China' policy, so dear to Chinese ears. If Beijing wants to hear the “One China’ policy from the Indian Establishment, the message should be passed that New Delhi also expects China to respect India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.  ---- INFA

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