Kolkata: Amid the controversy surrounding China’s refusal to issue visas to three wushu players from Arunachal Pradesh for the Asian Games, the Chinese envoy, Zha Liyou, has called for the enhancement of bilateral relations in a constructive and stable manner.
Liyou, who serves as the Chinese consul general in Kolkata, emphasized that the current state of relations between China and India is generally stable, with ongoing dialogue and communication between their leaders. He expressed China’s willingness to collaborate with India in implementing the crucial agreements reached by both countries’ leaders.
Furthermore, he highlighted the importance of strengthening dialogue, overcoming obstacles, and fostering a healthy and stable trajectory for bilateral relations.
During an event commemorating the 74th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Liyou also emphasized China’s readiness to collaborate with various parties, including India, to play a role in global peace-building, contribute to worldwide development, and safeguard the international order with a broader perspective.
“A stable and healthy China-India relationship is in the fundamental interests of both countries and their people. The common development and revitalisation of the two countries is related to the future of Asia and the world,” the Chinese envoy said, as per PTI.
Asked about the denial of visas to three Arunachal Pradesh athletes, Liyou said, “The Asian Games is the game for all of us. We are family… this is a bilateral issue and I would invite you to reach out to the Chinese Embassy…”
GoI Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday decided to cancel his visit to Hangzhou for the Asian Games as a mark of protest against China’s decision to deny visas to three female players from Arunachal Pradesh.
Nyeman Wangsu, Onilu Tega and Mepung Lamgu have been denied accreditation, which also works as visa for the Asian Games that officially opened on Saturday in Hangzhou.
Since last year, as the pandemic prevention and control measures have been gradually relaxed, more and more Indians who have never been to China expressed their desire to visit the country, he said.
“My office opened visa earlier this year and (since then), close to 7,000 people from Kolkata alone have been travelling to China,” Liyou said.
He emphasised local cooperation and people-to-people exchanges between eastern Indian states and Chinese provinces to promote development of relations between the two countries.
“India and China share the commonality of long history. Both of us have ancient civilisation. We have experienced things- hardships and suffering- that no other major civilisations have done. We have to work hard to bring ideas and people together,” Liyou said on the sidelines of the programme.
This year, India holds the chairmanship of both the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the G20. During this period, India successfully held a number of high-profile multilateral meetings and achieved fruitful results, he said.
The SCO, an intergovernmental organisation which mainly focuses on regional security issues, comprises eight Member States- China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
