DHARAMSHALA, APRIL 21: China has irked India once again by asking it not to include people from Arunachal Pradesh in the annual youth exchange delegation to China next month, leading to protests from India’s Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry which now is asking the entire trip to be called off.
India’s Youth Affairs Minister Jitendra Singh has written to External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, urging him to cancel the trip unless China drops the condition.
According to Singh’s letter, the Chinese embassy in New Delhi conveyed to his Ministry that “no youth from the state of Arunachal Pradesh be included in the youth delegation.”
“I believe these incremental steps by China to challenge India’s sovereignty over Arunachal Pradesh and its other territories must be nipped in the bud, lest these lead to bigger and more direct challenges. Hence, youth from Arunachal Pradesh should form part of the youth delegation from India to China and if this is not acceptable, the exchange of youth delegation should be stopped,” wrote Singh in his letter.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs, however, has not responded. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports sent its first letter on March 12 stating that they had been “informed orally” by the Chinese Embassy to avoid any nomination from Arunachal Pradesh. Another letter was sent on April 3.
“I think that is very serious. I find it disturbing and absolutely absurd. How can China dictate whom we can include in our delegation and from where? That’s for us to decide. I have taken it up with the External Affairs Minister and asked that the delegation not be allowed to go if China insists on this condition,” Singh was quoted by the Indian Express as saying.
China had expressed its opposition to the Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visit in 2009 to Arunachal Pradesh, which it claims as its territory. In October 2013, China irked India by issuing stapled visas to two archers from Arunachal who were later stopped by airport officials from boarding a plane to Guangzhou.
