Distorted map: Chinese ambassador tells Indian journalist to shut up
Sameer Arshad
TNN | Nov 3, 2011
NEW DELHI: A distorted Indian map showing parts of India in China and Pakistan led to an argument between Chinese Ambassador to India Zhang Yan and a journalist on the sidelines of a business session with Xinjiang governor at a New Delhi hotel on Thursday.
Zhang asked the journalist to "shut up" as he repeatedly questioned him about the map on the cover of a Chinese firm's brochure that showed Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh as part of China and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) as that of Pakistan . The heavy equipment manufacturing firm signed a $ 400 million business deal with the Gujarat government earlier in the day.
"This is not China...it is India. We have full freedom here. How can you ask a journalist to shut up, if he is asking you something,'' the journalist told Zhang.
The ambassador said the journalist "pushed, pushed, pushed" and that he repeatedly told him that it was a technical issue that would be sorted out. "We will handle this. We are working for friendlier ties with India...this will not help,'' said Zhang. "...we are handling this in a friendly way." Zhang said he raised the issue with the company. "So what can I do for you?"
The journalist said he just asked the ambassador for his comments and that he had no business to be agitated. The two were later seen shaking hands, as Chinese officials tried damage control with one of them asking the journalist "to sort this out in a friendly way".
Ministry of external affairs joint secretary Gautam Bambawale, who was present at the meet, said he drew Zhang's attention towards the map and that he accepted that it was wrong. "It is a private sector company (that has goofed up) and not the Chinese government."
Officials down played the issue; saying even Indian companies have made similar mistakes in the past and that it did not reflect Beijing's official position.
China, India's largest trading partner, claims sovereignty over parts of Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh and calls it southern Tibet. It refuses to recognize the "imperialist" 1913 Shimla Convention under which Tibet ceded Tawang to India and regards its border with India -- the McMahon line -- as disputed.
The two countries have sparred over high-profile visits to Arunachal Pradesh asserting India's sovereignty over the region while New Delhi recently expressed its displeasure over Beijing's infrastructural projects and overall presence in PoK. Beijing has been issuing stapled visas to Kashmiris as part of its refusal to accept India sovereignty over Jammu & Kashmir.
Nguồn: The Times of India,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Distorted-map-Chinese-ambassador-tells-Indian-journalist-to-shut-up/articleshow/10595147.cms
NEW DELHI: A distorted Indian map showing parts of India in China and Pakistan led to an argument between Chinese Ambassador to India Zhang Yan and a journalist on the sidelines of a business session with Xinjiang governor at a New Delhi hotel on Thursday.
Zhang asked the journalist to "shut up" as he repeatedly questioned him about the map on the cover of a Chinese firm's brochure that showed Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh as part of China and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) as that of Pakistan . The heavy equipment manufacturing firm signed a $ 400 million business deal with the Gujarat government earlier in the day.
"This is not China...it is India. We have full freedom here. How can you ask a journalist to shut up, if he is asking you something,'' the journalist told Zhang.
The ambassador said the journalist "pushed, pushed, pushed" and that he repeatedly told him that it was a technical issue that would be sorted out. "We will handle this. We are working for friendlier ties with India...this will not help,'' said Zhang. "...we are handling this in a friendly way." Zhang said he raised the issue with the company. "So what can I do for you?"
The journalist said he just asked the ambassador for his comments and that he had no business to be agitated. The two were later seen shaking hands, as Chinese officials tried damage control with one of them asking the journalist "to sort this out in a friendly way".
Ministry of external affairs joint secretary Gautam Bambawale, who was present at the meet, said he drew Zhang's attention towards the map and that he accepted that it was wrong. "It is a private sector company (that has goofed up) and not the Chinese government."
Officials down played the issue; saying even Indian companies have made similar mistakes in the past and that it did not reflect Beijing's official position.
China, India's largest trading partner, claims sovereignty over parts of Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh and calls it southern Tibet. It refuses to recognize the "imperialist" 1913 Shimla Convention under which Tibet ceded Tawang to India and regards its border with India -- the McMahon line -- as disputed.
The two countries have sparred over high-profile visits to Arunachal Pradesh asserting India's sovereignty over the region while New Delhi recently expressed its displeasure over Beijing's infrastructural projects and overall presence in PoK. Beijing has been issuing stapled visas to Kashmiris as part of its refusal to accept India sovereignty over Jammu & Kashmir.
Nguồn: The Times of India,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Distorted-map-Chinese-ambassador-tells-Indian-journalist-to-shut-up/articleshow/10595147.cms
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