BEIJING: India has unambiguously conveyed to China that the tactic of singling out Arunachal Pradesh residents by issuing them stapled visas has ended up stalling a much-anticipated visa deal and is a serious impediment to better ties.
Speaking on background, a senior official referred to a recent instance of stapled visas issued to two Arunachal Pradesh archers, and said, "It is silly and illogical to have issued stapled visas"¦ It does not add or subtract from China's claims (on Arunachal)."
Sources said the fresh instance on October 11 ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's China visit blew the visa deal off the table and this has been communicated to the Chinese.
The stalled agreement looked to increase tenure of multi-entry visas to one year and remove the mandatory two-month gap between a Chinese tourist's consecutive visits. There was a provision for easier "project visas" too.
As Singh looks to seal a significant protocol to reduce, if not eliminate, Depsang-like face-offs when he meets the Chinese leadership on Wednesday, stapled visas have derailed progress in tourism and business.
"We were close to it (visa deal) but when they did the stapled visas, we said we will do it slowly," said official sources, hinting a liberalized visa regime will be implemented, but after making China wait a bit.
"Our stand is that we will not let someone from Arunachal Pradesh to be treated differently from all other Indians. This can't be only because you are from Arunachal. That is why we object," sources said.
Despite easier visa norms being demanded by Indian business, which is looking forward to reciprocal concessions from China, the government is determined to send a tough political message on stapled visas.
On the border defence cooperation agreement, intended to curtail border standoffs by putting in place resolution mechanisms and ending Indian and Chinese patrols "tailing" one another, official sources point to step-by-step progress.
"Areas of differences are there on the line of control. There is a potential for an incident. We patrol where we believe is our territory and so do they. So, both can sometimes be there at the same time," said sources.
The visa deal was taken off the agenda of a Cabinet meeting just two days ahead of Singh's departure for a tour of Moscow and Beijing. The official explanation that more work needed to be done was clearly inadequate.
The visa fracas serves to underline the complexity of India's ties with its giant neighbour despite a steady rise in trade and commerce. In an election year, the Manmohan Singh government needs to exercise caution in disregarding a provocation despite a desire to improve cooperation across all fronts.
Indian officials reflected the government's dilemma by pointing out that stapled visas had "suddenly become an issue". Absence of stapled visas had not deterred China from staking claims to Arunachal through the 1950s onwards.
On a somewhat historical note, official sources pointed out that stapled visas have been a device to facilitate travel to countries that were not recognized by India. Travellers to Israel and South Africa were issued stapled visas.
But the official was quick to point out that picking on Arunachal Pradesh residents by reason of their domicile was completely unacceptable.
On the border defence agreement, the Indian side remains optimistic, saying that although an unmarked Line of Actual Control made it almost impossible to rule out standoffs, the incidents could be minimized.
