Thaindian News

New Delhi, Aug 27 (IANS) China and India should show “sensitivity to each others’ concerns”, the Indian foreign ministry said Friday amid reports that China had denied a visa to a senior army officer responsible for Jammu and Kashmir.
“While we value our exchanges with China, there must be sensitivity to each others’ concerns,” said ministry of external affairs spokesperson Vishnu Prakash.

The statement follows a media report that General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Area Command, B.S. Jaswal was supposed to visit China for a high-level exchange but was denied a visa as he had Jammu and Kashmir under his area of control.

However, Prakash just said that the visit was cancelled due to “certain reasons”.

He added that talks were still on with China to resolve the issue. “Our dialogue with China on these issues is ongoing,” the MEA spokesperson said.

The ministry also said that India and China had a “important, multi-faceted and complex relationship”.

“Our interaction has been growing in a number of areas, including defence. In recent years, we have had useful defence exchanges at various levels,” he added.

According to the report in a daily, following the latest visa denial, the defence ministry had stopped the visit of two Chinese army officials to the National Defence College.

Responding to questions on the issue, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said in Hyderabad: “It is not the question of breaking ties.”

“There are occasional problems but that will not affect our broader approach,” he told reporters.