India bars Chinese media from air show

India has denied accreditation to members of the Chinese media for reporting the air show, Aero India 2011, beginning in Bangalore next week. This came out at the press conference held by the Secretary for Defense Production, Raj Kumar Singh to brief the media on the show. A Chinese journalist present at the conference complained that he and his colleagues had been unable to register for accreditation as the online registration form did not provide China as an option.

Singh was seen consulting his colleagues seated with him on the issue and as it turned out, they informed the media present that this was done on the direction of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, which has approved the list of countries from whom participation has been invited.

Besides China, Pakistan and Iran are also missing from the list of approved countries, both in terms of media accreditation as well as participation from vendors. “China was sent an invite for the last edition, but it did not participate. So, this time no invite was sent. Pakistan and Iran too are not invited,” Singh said.

India and China have seen tensions simmer over the issues of the Chinese government issuing stapled visas to Indian nationals domiciled in the states of Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh. China claims these two states as its territory. India also made a point of having its representative attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony for a Chinese dissident recently, a move against which China had been pressuring other countries. Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops recently crossed into Jammu and Kashmir and demolished sheds meant to shelter Indian shepherds.