Asian Games 2023: Sports Miner Anurag Thakur cancels China trip after Arunachal Pradesh athletes are denied entry | Asian-games News

Anurag Thakur, the Indian Miner for Youth Affairs and Sports, has cancelled his scheduled trip to China as a mark of protest. This was in response to China, which is hosting the 2023 Asian Games, denying entry to wushu athletes from the state of Arunachal Pradesh.
“A strong protest has been lodged in New Delhi and Beijing against China’s deliberate and selective obstruction of some of our sportspersons. China’s action violates both the spirit of the Asian Games and the rules governing their conduct, which explicitly prohibits discrimination against competitors from member states,” said Arindam Bagchi, the spokesperson for the Minry of External Affairs, in a statement.

The Opening Ceremony of the Asian Games will be held on Saturday. The Games will go on till October 8.

Bagchi accused China of discriminating against some Indian athletes in a ‘targeted and pre-meditated manner’.
“The Government of India has learnt that the Chinese authorities have, in a targeted and pre-meditated manner, discriminated against some of the Indian sportspersons from the state of Arunachal Pradesh denying them accreditation and entry to the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. In line with our long-standing and consent position, India firmly rejects differential treatment of Indian citizens on the basis of domicile or ethnicity. Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India,” he emphasised before adding: “Government of India reserves the right to take suitable measures to safeguard our interests.”

The developments will cast a shadow over the Asian Games, which are being held in China after a delay of one year.Most Read
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Last month, China had released the 2023 edition of its “standard map”, in which it staked a claim over Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai Chin region, Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea. India has then lodged a “strong protest” through diplomatic channels and said that such steps only “complicate the resolution of the boundary question”.
Union External Affairs Miner S Jaishankar had dismissed China’s attempt as an ‘absurd claim’. “China has even in the past put out maps which claim the territories which are not China’s, which belong to other countries. This is an old habit of theirs. It is not something which is new. It started in the 1950s… We are very clear what our territories are. This government is very clear about what we need to defend our territories. You can already see that on out borders. I think there should be no doubt about that. Making absurd claims does not make other people’s territories yours,” Jaishankar has said at the NDTV Decodes G20 Conclave.
In July this year, India had withdrawn its entire wushu team from the World University Games in Chengdu. This was because China had issued stapled visas — instead of stamped ones — to three athletes from Arunachal Pradesh. Angered China’s move, Indian authorities had reportedly stopped an eight-member Indian contingent, comprising five athletes, a coach and two support staff, at the boarding gate minutes before departure.