As a mark of protest against China’s decision to issue stapled visas — instead of stamped ones — to three athletes from Arunachal Pradesh, India withdrew its entire wushu (martial art) team from the World University Games which begin Friday in Chengdu.
India pulls out of games in China over stapled visas for Arunachal athletes
The decision came hours after airport authorities in New Delhi stopped an eight-member contingent, comprising five athletes, a coach and two support staff, at the boarding gate minutes before departure Thursday midnight, according to coach Raghvendra Singh.
“We were stopped at the gate by immigration officials and CISF personnel. They did not give any reason and claimed they were merely acting on the government’s instructions,” Singh told
The group that was not allowed to board did not include athletes from Arunachal Pradesh, who were scheduled to take a 1.05 am flight Friday, Singh said.
Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, called the Chinese decision “unacceptable”, adding that “India reserves the right to suitably respond to such actions”. “Our long-standing and consistent position is that there should be no discrimination or differential treatment based on domicile or ethnicity in the visa regime for Indian citizens holding valid India passports,” Bagchi said.
“It has come to our notice that stapled visas were issued to some of our citizens representing the country in an international sporting event in China. This is unacceptable and we have lodged our strong protest with the Chinese side, reiterating our consistent position on the matter,” he said.
An official of the Wushu Federation of India, who did not wish to be named, said, “In response to China’s discriminatory action, the government decided that no Indian wushu player should travel for the competition. Hence, even though other athletes had valid travel documents, they were not allowed to board the flight.”
China has consistently denied stamped visas to Indian citizens from Arunachal Pradesh, citing territorial dispute.
According to the federation official, the athletes applied for visas on July 16. While the applications of the rest of the team were processed in time, the documents of the three Arunachal athletes – Nyeman Wangsu, Onilu Tega and Mepung Lamgu – were not accepted.
They were asked to resubmit their applications Tuesday and the Chinese embassy returned their passports with stapled visas on Wednesday afternoon.
The government, which was informed about the decision, put the team’s participation on hold before ultimately deciding Thursday that India will not take part in the wushu competition of the University Games.
China has refused to issue stamped visas to athletes and officials from Arunachal in the past as well. In 2011, five karatekas from the state were given stapled visas for a competition in Quanzhou.
Two years later, two archers were given stapled visas ahead of the Youth World Championships and in 2016, the manager of the Indian badminton team said he did not get a Chinese visa because he was from Arunachal Pradesh.
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