NEW DELHI, Jan 13 � China today made it clear that it will not issue visas to any official from Arunachal Pradesh, over which it lays claims, and will continue to issue stapled visas to non-officials from that state, reports PTI.
Speaking against the backdrop of reports that two Arunachal men have got stapled visas which was departure from past practice, an official in Chinese embassy, on the condition of anonymity, said there was no change in their visa policy for residents of Arunachal Pradesh.
�There is no change in our visa policy for residents of Arunachal Pradesh. China does not issue visas to officials from that state and will still not do it. For non-officials, we only issue stapled visas,� the official told PTI.
The incident of issuance of stapled visas to residents of Arunachal Pradesh came to light when two sportsmen from that state were prevented by immigration officials from boarding a flight yesterday from New Delhi to Beijing since they had stapled visas given by Chinese Embassy on their passports.
In the case of residents of Arunachal Pradesh, visas were never issued till now as China claims the whole of the north-eastern state as its own.
The contentious issue of stapled visas for residents of J and K had figured during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao�s visit to New Delhi last month.
