China appears to be changing its policy on stapled visa issue

New Delhi, Dec 12 (PTI) Ahead of Premier Wen Jiabao's
visit here this week, China appears to be finally changing its
policy over issuance of stapled visas to residents of Jammu
and Kashmir after strong protests by India.
In recent few weeks, Chinese Embassy here has issued
stamped visas to at least three people from the state,
including Tanya Gupta, a singer who traveled to Guangzhou to
perform at the closing ceremony of Asian Games last month.
Indian officials have recently said that Beijing has
given an assurance that the issue of giving stapled visas to
those from Jammu and Kashmir will be resolved and that it will
not affect bilateral diplomatic exchanges.
The move, seen as a good solvent by New Delhi for
bilateral ties, especially ahead of Wen's visit to India from
Wednesday, will also help in easing of some irritants which
occurred in the past one year between the two countries.
However, when asked about issuance of stamped visas
and if there was a change in China's policy, the officials in
the Chinese embassy here said they were not aware of issuance
of any such visas.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had raised the stapled
visa issue during his meeting with Wen on the margins of ASEAN
in Vietnam in October and stressed the need for both countries
to show sensitivity to each other's core issues.
The Chinese have been issuing visa on a separate
sheet, stapled to the passports of residents of Jammu and
Kashmir for more than a year, thereby questioning the state's
status as an integral part of India.
New Delhi has been critical of this policy of Beijing
and had conveyed to it that the matter was as sensitive to
India as Tibet was to China. PTI PYK
SMT