TRUE to its sinister characteristic of adding political overtones to even a simple sporting event, China has played foul by denying accreditation to some of the Indian sportspersons from Arunachal Pradesh for the Hangzhou Asian Games. The dirty move has, obviously, infuriated India which has called it a grossly discriminatory behaviour with a mindset of needling a neighbour whose stature is growing in the global order much to the chagrin of Beijing and its Communist leadership. By cancelling his proposed trip to the Games, Union Sports Minister Mr. Anurag Thakur has made the Indian anger pretty clear, putting the ball back in China’s court. Better sense may prevail among the Asian Games organisers but the utterly despicable behaviour by Chinese authorities also provides the world an opportunity to snub the belligerent regime that seems to believe only in confrontation than consultation. China has been doing this to people from Arunachal Pradesh for too long. Always trying to make a political statement, the Chinese leadership has a long record of singling out government officials, bureaucrats or sportspersons from the North-Eastern State. Beijing keeps indulging in abominable tactics like issuing stapled visas to people from Arunachal to avoid recognising them as citizens of India.

 

A few years ago China had granted entry to 12 Indian players for the China Open badminton tournament but refused visa to the team manager Mr. Baman Tago. Despite submitting valid documents to the Chinese embassy, the manager was denied visa as he belonged to Arunachal Pradesh. A couple of months earlier, three wushu players from Arunachal Pradesh were first denied entry and then given stapled visas for the World University Games. As a mark of protest, India rightly pulled out its entire wushu squad from the Games. India’s campaign in the Asian Games now carries a long shadow of the political incident whose after-effects should definitely ring in the diplomatic circles. In fact, New Delhi must ensure that the issue finds echo in their future talks on every platform, including international engagements. The Chinese claims on Arunachal Pradesh as its own territory must be trampled with all possible tools by India. It is imperative for the Centre to take up the Asian Games issue to larger platforms as Beijing has already crossed the line by dragging a sporting event into a political controversy.

 

It is definitely against the good spirit that sports spreads among the participating nations. The Chinese actions against people from Arunachal Pradesh and also many other parts of North-Eastern India smack of deliberate and selective obstruction with the sole aim of troubling India. The denial of accreditation to players from Arunachal is an extension of the Chinese playbook of renaming many regions of the N-E State on its own. The old game of stretching things to the point of breaking before making a calculated climbdown and sit across the negotiations table is at play in the disguise of Asian Games. The world is aware of the pathetic ploys that Beijing employs to assert its dominance. The script is similar with almost all the Chinese neighbours who have border disputes with Beijing. Be it the case of Taiwan or the military aggression in eastern Ladakh, China’s only intention is to keep the pot boiling.