(TibetanReview.net, Oct23, 2018) – China has said it had objected to the inclusion of India’s junior home minister Mr Kiren Rijiju in an Oct 22 bilateral discussion with India, while the latter has denied any knowledge of any such objection, reported indiatoday.in Oct 22.
Rijiju was initially part of the delegation in talks on internal security between an Indian delegation led by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and a Chinese team led by Minister of Public Security Zhao Kezhi. However, upon the insistence of the Chinese side his name was dropped, the report said.
But, later, while a restricted dialogue was underway between Singh and Zhao, the junior minister was called in to participate in delegation-level talks. He was also part of the document signing, the report cited “a source privy to the developments” as saying.
“We did make strong representation to object this arrangement and asked for correction of this wrong move,” the report quoted “a Chinese source” as saying.
However, the report also cited “an Indian home ministry spokesperson” as pleading ignorance of any protest from the Chinese side. “I am not aware of any displeasure expressed by the Chinese side,” he was quoted as saying.
Rijiju hails from the border state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China considers a “disputed” territory and as a part of Tibet under its rule. China does not issue a regular visa to people from the state. In fact, it previously refused to issue any visa to people from the state, saying they were Chinese citizens and did not require visas. It latter took to issuing to them visas stapled to their passports rather than regular visas, to India’s annoyance.