SRP
BANNED
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2013
- Messages
- 2,460
- Reaction score
- -4
- Country
- Location
China's vice foreign minister Liu Zhenmin on Apr. 14 rejected a request from Indian foreign secretary Sujatha Singh to establish a consulate in Lhasa, Tibet, reports the Hong Kong-based Ta Kung Pao.
It marks the third time for Beijing to reject such a request since 2012. India once had a consulate in Lhasa, but it is no longer used after the border war between Beijing and New Delhi in 1962.
Meanwhile, the Tibetan government is in exile in Dharamsala, India, and China fears that the establishment of an Indian consulate in the Tibet autonomous region will encourage more anti-government feeling among the local population, the paper said.
Dipankar Banerjee, a retired major general of the Indian Army and the founder of the New Delhi-based
Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, told Hong Kong's Ming Pao that there is no political motivation behind India's proposal for a consulate in Lhasa. He added that Tibet is recognized as a "holy land" by many in India. Since 1954, buddhists from India have made annual visits to Lake Manasarovar located in Tibet's Burang County, Banerjee said.
India currently has an embassy in Beijing and two consulates located in Shanghai and Guangzhou. As for China, it has an embassy in New Delhi and two consulates in Mumbai and Kolkata. Beijing is planning to build a third consulate in Chennai on the southeastern coast of India.
To improve China's relationship with India, President Xi Jinping may become the first Chinese leader to visit New Delhi since 2006 later this year, according to Ta Kung Pao.
Beijing rejects India's request to reopen Lhasa consulate｜Politics｜News｜WantChinaTimes.com
