New Delhi, Aug 27 (IANS) There should be ‘sensitivity to each other’s concerns’, India said Friday and summoned the Chinese ambassador after an army general’s visit to China was called off with Beijing saying it was inappropriate as he had Jammu and Kashmir under his command.
‘While we value our exchanges with China, there must be sensitivity to each others’ concerns,’ said ministry of external affairs spokesperson Vishnu Prakash.
His statement came on a media report that Beijing had said it was unwilling to ‘welcome’ Lt. Gen. B.S. Jaswal, the head of the Northern Command, on a regular high-level visit to China.
On Friday afternoon, Chinese envoy Zhang Yan was summoned to South Block and spent some 25 minutes with external affairs ministry officials. He was told that it was Beijing’s response to Jaswal’s visit that was inappropriate, said sources.
On its part, the Indian Army said ‘the visit was called off after Beijing communicated that it would be inappropriate for Gen. Jaswal to visit since he was commanding a sensitive area’.
Defence Minister A.K. Antony said the cancellation of Jaswal’s visit was ‘not the question of breaking ties.’
‘There are occasional problems but that will not affect our broader approach,’ he told reporters in Hyderabad when asked about the media report that also said that India had stopped the visit of two Chinese army officers to the National Defence College in the national capital.
Without going into the reasons, the external affairs ministry just said that the visit was cancelled due to ‘certain reasons’.
Prakash added that talks were still on with China to resolve the issue. ‘Our dialogue with China on these issues is ongoing.’
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.
