China’s Stapled Visa

NEW DELHI: On July 26th, the Indian Wushu (Martial Arts) team were to board the flight to Chengdu, China, to participate in theWorld University Games, when the news from the Indian Government to put the departure ‘on hold’ reached them. This news came as three players from Arunachal Pradesh were issued ‘Stapled Visa’ by the Chinese government.

What is a Stapled Visa?
Since the year 2005, China has been in the practice of issuing ‘stapled visas’ to the Indian citizens of Arunachal Pradesh as it started to refer to the state as ‘Zangnan’ or ‘South Tibet’. A ‘Stapled visa’ is an unstamped piece of paper that is stapled or pinned to the pages of a passport instead of the normal procedure of pasting. These can be easily torn off or detached.

It is not only the people from Arunachal Pradesh, but also from Jammu and Kashmir who have been issued such visas. What China aims to indicate by such action is to claim its sovereignty over the said regions. Indian External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi strongly protested this action of the Chinese government by calling it ‘unacceptable’.