Indian Minister Kiren Rijiju has become an epicentre of India-China political storm. Hailing from Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims to a part of its territory; Kiren Rijiju was not allowed to be a part of a bilateral dialogue by Beijing. However, Rijiju eventually attended a meeting with the Chinese officials, which made Beijing unhappy.
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During the official meeting with China, India held talks on internal security with the Indian delegation led by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and the Chinese team led by Zhao Kezai, China’s Minister of Public Security. According to sources, initially, Kiren Rijiju’s name was dropped for the delegation-level talks between India and China. But later, while the restricted dialogue was underway between Rajnath Singh and Zhao Kezai, the junior minister was called in to participate in the meeting.
China objects the inclusion of Rijiju for India and China meeting as Beijing considers it as a “disputed” territory. China does not issue a regular visa to people from Arunachal Pradesh but gives a stapled visa, which India has been protesting strongly.
Though China has always protested against any high-level visit to Arunachal but relations between India and China have gone downwards drastically since April 2017 when Kiren Rijiju accompanied the Dalai Lama to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.
