Stapled visa row : China ready to work with India

Beijing/New Delhi (PTI) - On the eve of a key
meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and
Chinese premier President Hu Jintao, China on Tuesday said it
is "ready to work" with India to deal with the controversial
stapled visa issue.
In Delhi, senior officials said there was some
movement on the issue but India will have to wait and watch
how things evolve.
Replying to a question about whether the leaders will
discuss issues concerning stapled visas and resumption of
defence talks, Chinese foreign ministry official Hong Lie told
a media briefing in Beijing that China is ready to solve
issues relating to people to people exchanges.
"As for the issue you mentioned, China is ready to
work with India to have friendly consultation and properly
handle the issues relating to people to people exchanges in
our bilateral relations," Hong said.
"We are very confident about the prospect of bilateral
relations," he said. China was also willing to work with India
on resumption of defence exchanges.
Singh and Hu will meet tomorrow in Sanya in China
ahead of the BRICS summit.
The statement comes in the backdrop of Beijing
granting normal visas to four journalists born in Jammu &
Kashmir, who are visiting Sanya in Hainan province to cover
the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, (BRICS)
summit beginning tomorrow.
India called off defence exchanges last year after
China refused visa to an Indian Army General B S Jaswal on the
ground that he headed troops in Jammu and Kashmir.
China had in 2008 started the practice of issuing
visas on loose sheets of paper to people from Jammu and
Kashmir, which was seen here as questioning India's
sovereignty over the state.
This had been an irritant in bilateral relations and
the matter had snowballed into a major controversy last July
after the Jaswal episode.
Indian officials were cautiously optimistic that China
may have decided to stop the practice, taking on board Indian
concerns.
They said the two countries will have to work quietly
on this without making any announcements.
Singh had taken up the stapled visa issue with
President Hu in Vietnam in October last year when they had met
on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit.
The issue was again raised in December with Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao when he visited India.