With the Union government withdrawing the “political clearance” granted to it, a high-profile Chinese media delegation has cancelled its trip to attend an Observer Research Foundation conference here on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The External Affairs Ministry on Sunday denied reports attributing the revoking of clearance to India’s displeasure at the ongoing stand-off between the forces of the two countries in the Chumar sector of Jammu and Kashmir, and cited “technical issues and shortage of time.”
“If they wish to hold the conference at a later date, we would be happy to pursue the clearances for them then,” Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said.
The seven-member delegation had some of the most influential figures in the Chinese media — Dai Xiaojing, president of the SEEC Media group; Hu Xijin, Editor-in-Chief of Global Times , an influential English daily; and senior journalists from CCTV, People’s Daily and China Youth Daily . A Chinese official said the delegation had received their visas and bought their tickets and had “incurred a great cost” because of the last-minute cancellations.
The organisers of the conference, however, said they hoped to postpone the event to October, if the government granted the clearance again.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping about India’s concerns, saying that “peace and stability in our relations and along our borders are essential for us to realise the enormous potential in our relations.”
