China needles India again: What you need to know about 'stapled visa'

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

India on Thursday described as «unacceptable» China issuing stapled visas to a few sportspersons from Arunachal Pradesh and asserted that it reserves the right to «suitably respond» to such actions.External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said India has lodged its «strong protest» with the Chinese side on the matter and there should be no discrimination on the basis of domicile or ethnicity in the visa regime for Indian citizens. Following the incident, India withdrew its entire Wushu team from the World University Games in China as 'stapled visas' were given to three Arunachal players.What is a stapled visa that China chooses to give to Indian nationals from Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir? A ‘stapled visa’ is an unstamped piece of paper that is simply attached by a pin to a page of the passport.

This piece of paper can be easily removed or detached from the passport. It's not like a regular visa, which is affixed to the passport by the issuing nation and stamped.

Over the years, China has been indulging in this sort of behaviour by issuing stapled visas to Indian nationals from Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. According to the Chinese government, these ‘stapled visas’ are issued to Indian citizens from Arunachal Pradesh because it does not recognise the state as part of India.

Meanwhile, New Delhi has asserted that China simply uses the ‘stapled visa’ as a political tool to affirm its claim over Arunachal Pradesh, which has always been a part of India.India's strong rebuttal Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday said India should simply start issuing stapled visas to anyone applying for an Indian visa from Tibet. Tagging a media report on China issuing stapled visas to some Indian