Justin Joseph
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Stamp on passport bodes well for India-China talks
With the bang of a stamp into a passport, a visa issued by a Chinese consulate has made headline news across India as a good omen during the start of talks between the world’s two most populous countries.
The Asian giants will have plenty to discuss, including trade, currency exchange rates and regional arms deals, when Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna spends four days in Beijing this week. One of the major items will be passport rules, something that could have been a footnote on the agenda if it weren't so highly symbolic. It's called the “stapled visa issue,” an infamous paperwork problem in countries already encumbered with layers of bureaucracy.
In recent years, China has refused to stamp passports from Indian-controlled Kashmir, a region on India’s northern border that is claimed by Beijing’s ally Pakistan. People from Kashmir who wanted to visit China received a separate visa page stapled into their passport. Those pages proved useless for direct travel from India to China, however, because Indian authorities would not allow people to leave the country without a stamped visa.
India wanted stamps, China wanted staples. Neither side backed down because of what the difference meant: New Delhi felt a stamped passport reflected the Indian citizenship of residents of Kashmir, while the Chinese were loath to do anything that might be taken as an acknowledgment of India's claim to the disputed territory.
It was a travel nightmare for Kashmiris such as Shakil Romshoo, an associate professor at the University of Kashmir, who was stopped at the Delhi airport in November while trying to fly to China to collect an academic prize for his research on Himalayan lakes. The stapled – not stamped – Chinese visa in his passport prevented him from picking up his medal, citation and cash award.
That experience made him skeptical when one of his colleagues, Professor Mufeed Ahmad, tried a similar trip on the weekend. To the surprise of the entire faculty, he said, the professor of management studies received a stamped – not stapled – visa at the Chinese consulate, and sent home a triumphant e-mail upon arrival.
“He is very excited, because he wasn't sure he'd make it to Beijing,” Dr. Romshoo said. “It's a sign of hope. I feel something will change.
This is good, because it's an issue between China and India, not about us.”
Even in the Indian capital, where the issue does not directly affect anyone, analysts said the problem cannot be dismissed as a minor part of this week's meetings. Media reports have described the stapled visas as a “core concern” for the Foreign Minister, who is making his first visit to China and leads the highest-level delegation to the country since his government took power last year. The fact that China issued a stamped visa to Dr. Ahmad was widely reported in the Indian media, which quoted Indian diplomats musing about whether it was a clerical error, or reflected a change in policy in Beijing.
Either way, the Indian delegation must push hard on the issue this week, said Alka Acharya, chair of the Chinese studies program at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
“This is difficult for China, because recognizing our passports may be seen as breaching its impartiality on the Kashmir issue,” she said. “But it's one of those things that make a big storm in this country. It cannot be left hanging in the air.”
The passport issue is among a number of items on Mr. Krishna’s agenda that relate to Pakistan. The delegation also hopes to dissuade China from assisting with construction projects in the part of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan, and plans to object to China selling fighter aircraft to India's rival. Such items could strain the conversation on other topics, such as obtaining China's support for a seat at the United Nations Security Council, but analysts say this fits the historical pattern of Sino-Indian relations.
“Pakistan has been in the middle of our relations with China since the 1960s,” Ms. Acharya said.
For ordinary people in the border regions who carry Indian passports, it remains unclear whether they will get stamped or stapled if they apply for a Chinese visa. Until the dispute between China and India is resolved, the only certain method of getting around the problem is to make a side trip to a country where authorities don't mind allowing passengers on flights with stapled visa pages. Many travellers cannot afford such a trip, however.
“It costs money and time,” said Dr. Romshoo at the University of Kashmir. “It can affect their livelihoods.”
Stamp on passport bodes well for India-China talks - The Globe and Mail
With the bang of a stamp into a passport, a visa issued by a Chinese consulate has made headline news across India as a good omen during the start of talks between the world’s two most populous countries.
The Asian giants will have plenty to discuss, including trade, currency exchange rates and regional arms deals, when Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna spends four days in Beijing this week. One of the major items will be passport rules, something that could have been a footnote on the agenda if it weren't so highly symbolic. It's called the “stapled visa issue,” an infamous paperwork problem in countries already encumbered with layers of bureaucracy.
In recent years, China has refused to stamp passports from Indian-controlled Kashmir, a region on India’s northern border that is claimed by Beijing’s ally Pakistan. People from Kashmir who wanted to visit China received a separate visa page stapled into their passport. Those pages proved useless for direct travel from India to China, however, because Indian authorities would not allow people to leave the country without a stamped visa.
India wanted stamps, China wanted staples. Neither side backed down because of what the difference meant: New Delhi felt a stamped passport reflected the Indian citizenship of residents of Kashmir, while the Chinese were loath to do anything that might be taken as an acknowledgment of India's claim to the disputed territory.
It was a travel nightmare for Kashmiris such as Shakil Romshoo, an associate professor at the University of Kashmir, who was stopped at the Delhi airport in November while trying to fly to China to collect an academic prize for his research on Himalayan lakes. The stapled – not stamped – Chinese visa in his passport prevented him from picking up his medal, citation and cash award.
That experience made him skeptical when one of his colleagues, Professor Mufeed Ahmad, tried a similar trip on the weekend. To the surprise of the entire faculty, he said, the professor of management studies received a stamped – not stapled – visa at the Chinese consulate, and sent home a triumphant e-mail upon arrival.
“He is very excited, because he wasn't sure he'd make it to Beijing,” Dr. Romshoo said. “It's a sign of hope. I feel something will change.
This is good, because it's an issue between China and India, not about us.”
Even in the Indian capital, where the issue does not directly affect anyone, analysts said the problem cannot be dismissed as a minor part of this week's meetings. Media reports have described the stapled visas as a “core concern” for the Foreign Minister, who is making his first visit to China and leads the highest-level delegation to the country since his government took power last year. The fact that China issued a stamped visa to Dr. Ahmad was widely reported in the Indian media, which quoted Indian diplomats musing about whether it was a clerical error, or reflected a change in policy in Beijing.
Either way, the Indian delegation must push hard on the issue this week, said Alka Acharya, chair of the Chinese studies program at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
“This is difficult for China, because recognizing our passports may be seen as breaching its impartiality on the Kashmir issue,” she said. “But it's one of those things that make a big storm in this country. It cannot be left hanging in the air.”
The passport issue is among a number of items on Mr. Krishna’s agenda that relate to Pakistan. The delegation also hopes to dissuade China from assisting with construction projects in the part of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan, and plans to object to China selling fighter aircraft to India's rival. Such items could strain the conversation on other topics, such as obtaining China's support for a seat at the United Nations Security Council, but analysts say this fits the historical pattern of Sino-Indian relations.
“Pakistan has been in the middle of our relations with China since the 1960s,” Ms. Acharya said.
For ordinary people in the border regions who carry Indian passports, it remains unclear whether they will get stamped or stapled if they apply for a Chinese visa. Until the dispute between China and India is resolved, the only certain method of getting around the problem is to make a side trip to a country where authorities don't mind allowing passengers on flights with stapled visa pages. Many travellers cannot afford such a trip, however.
“It costs money and time,” said Dr. Romshoo at the University of Kashmir. “It can affect their livelihoods.”
Stamp on passport bodes well for India-China talks - The Globe and Mail
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Anyways that was a nice news.
