China rebuffs Indian concerns on visa policy

India discontent with China over visas issued on papers stapled to passports.

China said on Monday that India is aware of its stance on a long-running border row, rebuffing Indian concerns over its decision to give separate visas to people living in areas disputed by the two sides.

India's foreign ministry said last week it had seen reports that an Indian athlete and his coach from the remote northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, on the Chinese border, were issued visas on papers stapled to their passports. Chinese visas are normally stamped into Indian passports.

"China's stance on the Sino-Indian border problem and the disputed territory in the eastern part has consistently been clear, and India is aware of it too," China's Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement faxed to Reuters.

"This stance has not changed." China and India still claim vast swathes of each other's territories along their 3,500 km Himalayan border, an issue that remains the biggest single impediment to better relations between the two Asian giants.

India's Foreign Ministry said last week that they had asked the Chinese to follow a "uniform practice on issuance of visas to Indian nationals" regardless of where in India they live.

In 2009, China began issuing stapled visas to residents of Indian-administered Kashmir, angering Indian politicians who interpreted the move as a sign of Chinese interference to discredit Indian sovereignty over the disputed region.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited India in an effusive display of warmth in December but failed to lift the veil of suspicion between the two nations stemming from their unresolved border dispute and China's close ties with Pakistan.