Wushu team trip off as China gives stapled visas to Arunachal players | India News – Times of India
The wushu contingent, comprising eight athletes and four officials, was to leave for China on a Cathay Pacific flight late Wednesday. They were booked on a Delhi-Hong Kong-Chengdu route. At IGI Airport, immigration officials objected to the stapled visas issued to the three Arunachal players and refused clearance to the entire contingent.
Stapled visa: ‘India reserves right to respond to Chinese action’
The coaches and support staff in the Indian wushu contingent said only the players from Arunachal were given stapled visas by the Chinese embassy while the others had received normal visas. After being denied permission to travel to China, the team returned from the airport.
Later, the government decided to cancel the team’s travel to the multisport event after the MEA examined the matter internally. The three Arunachal athletes are also part of India’s official wushu contingent for the upcoming Asian Games to be held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou from September 23 to October 8. The stapled visas issued by the Chinese embassy officials have put their participation in the Asiad also in doubt, and could lead to another diplomatic showdown between the two countries over China’s claim that Arunachal is part of southern Tibet – an assertion strongly contested by Indian authorities.
MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, during his weekly media briefing on Thursday, said that India reserves the right to suitably respond to such actions. “It has come to our notice that stapled visas were issued to some of our citizens representing the country in an international sporting event in China. This is unacceptable and we have lodged our strong protest with the Chinese side reiterating our consistent position on the matter and India reserves the right to suitably respond to such actions,” Bagchi said. A stapled visa is not stamped directly into the passport of the applicant, but instead is attached to the passport with a staple.
The team was selected by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) – an organisation of universities in the country, including central, state, institutes of national importance and deemed universities. The AIU had applied for visas on July 17 but the three Arunachal athletes’ documents weren’t accepted. The AIU was asked by the embassy officials to resubmit their documents, following which application for fresh visas was applied on July 24. On July 26, the three athletes were issued stapled visas, which the Indian government has objected to.
