China’s stapled visa unstaples its stand on Arunachal

China's recent decision to give stapled visas to Indian citizens from Arunachal Pradesh has raised intriguing questions about a possible change for the better in Beijing's approach to the territorial dispute with India in the eastern sector.

In the recent past, Beijing has often refused visas to Indian citizens from Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls 'South Tibet' and claims as an integral part of Chinese territory. Beijing implied that people from Arunachal were citizens of China and hence did not require visas to travel there.

Seen from that perspective, giving visas, stapled or otherwise, to applicants from Arunachal Pradesh would seem a welcome departure from the earlier Chinese position.

Observers here familiar with the history of Sino-Indian boundary dispute say the move may be noteworthy but caution against making bold conclusions about a positive change in the Chinese approach to Arunachal Pradesh.

While some Chinese sources have been cited in the Indian media as saying that there is no change in Beijing's visa policy on Arunachal, there are other voices indicating an important evolution.

Hu Shisheng, a leading South Asia hand at the state-run China Institute of Contemporary International Relations in Beijing, has been quoted as saying that the recent decision is a possible "concession" to India. Hu pointed out that "we have been saying that people of Arunachal Pradesh do not need any visa as it is a part of China."

Hu, a deputy director of the Institute for South and South East Asian Studies at the CICIR, added that "there must have been a change in policy for such a thing to happen".

Former diplomats who have negotiated with China on the boundary dispute wonder if the move is merely a tactical one aimed at improving the atmospherics of Sino-Indian relations. They point out that as an administrative decision, China's latest move on Arunachal visas could easily be reversed.

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