China: Sorry, but this is ‘staple’ diet
China said on Monday it regretted that two Indian athletes were blocked last week from going to China but defended measures it has put in place in response to a border dispute which led to the ban on the pair travelling
China said on Monday it regretted that two Indian athletes were blocked last week from going to China but defended measures it has put in place in response to a border dispute which led to the ban on the pair travelling.
Relations between the nuclear-armed Asian giants have been warming recently after decades of hostility following a 1962 border war. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is due to visit China this month.
Nevertheless, the refusal last Thursday by a Chinese airline to let the two teenage female archers board an aircraft bound for China, where they hoped to take part in a competition, underscored the sensitivity of the border dispute.
The pair were from the disputed border state of Arunachal Pradesh, where India and China fought the border war in 1962. China claims the region as South Tibet.
China refuses to stamp visas into the passport of people from disputed territories, but staples them in instead, a practice that infuriates India.
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