Arunachal Pradesh | China objects to Rijiju’s presence in meeting with officials

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ITANAGAR | October 23, 2018:

Union Minister of Arunachal Pradesh for Home Kiren Rijiju, for the first time since taking office had attended a meeting with Chinese officials on Monday.

Rijiju being a lawmaker from Arunachal Pradesh where he hails from, which China claims includes a part of its territory was kept off the meetings with Chinese officials. The move is seen as a message for Chinese authorities, sources from Home Ministry said.

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While conversing with the media, a senior official said, that Rijiju, who was initially included in the Indian team led by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, was dropped, supposedly due to the pressure from the Chinese delegation led by Zhao Kezhi, China's minister for public security.

As per the official, while the meeting was in progress between Mr Singh and Mr Kezhi, Mr Rijiju was asked to reach North Block. He was at his residence at that point of time.

The minister of state for home rushed to the North Block and attended the meeting, in which the India-China security cooperation agreement was signed.

As of now, it is not known whether the union home minister had informed his Chinese counterpart that Rijiju would be coming.

Until today, the Narendra Modi government had conceded to Chinese sensitivities by keeping Rijiju away from bilateral meetings. For instance he was conspicuous by his absence from the delegation-level talks during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to India in September 2014. He also skipped the President of India's state banquet for his Chinese counterpart during that visit.

Rijiju was reportedly denied a visa to visit China over a decade back. However, he did manage to visit the neighboring country in 2008 as part of India's Olympic delegation, given his involvement with the Archery Federation of India.

His presence at the meeting is significant as it comes after a series of objections from China regarding Arunachal Pradesh.

Source: NDTV