New Delhi: India and China are trying to find a solution to the issue of China’s policy of issuing stapled visas to people from Arunachal Pradesh, a senior official said here yesterday.
Taking part in an interaction on “Prime Minister’s visit to China” at Observer Research Foundation, Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the ministry of external affairs, Gautam Bambawale, who had accompanied Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s team to Beijing, said the issue was taken up by the prime minister with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang during their talks, said a release.
He said the prime ministers have tasked their officials to work out a solution.
“We are already on it. Let us see,” he added.
Bambawale said there is a need to find a practical solution to the problem soon as many sportspersons from Arunachal Pradesh were not able to participate in sports events in China, which increasingly organises such events. He said to find a solution both countries need to sort out the basic issue — that is, China claims Arunachal to be a part of it and India considers the northeast state as an integral part of the country. Bambawale said Manmohan Singh during his tenure of nearly 10 years had worked hard with the Chinese leadership to keep the relationship “stable and predictable”. IANS
