India and China are engaged in a row over journalist visas
A row has broken out over denial of visas and refusal to renew them for Indian journalists in China. The government said foreign journalists including Chinese are working without any problems in India. But China has alleged "unfair" treatment.
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Nearly two months ago, China told two Indian journalists in Beijing that their visas had been "frozen". China said it was taking "counter-measures" in response to what it alleged was India's "unfair" treatment of Chinese journalists.
India has denied the Chinese allegations. "All foreign journalists, including Chinese journalists have been pursuing journalistic activities in India without any limitations or difficulties in reporting or doing media coverage," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
India has said their journalists in China have been operating with certain difficulties. At present, two Indian journalists are reporting from China.
"The Indian journalists in China... are not being permitted to hire locals as correspondents or journalists," Mr Bagchi said. "In addition, Indian journalists face several restrictions while getting access and travelling locally (in China)," he added.
Foreign media can freely hire local journalists to work for their bureaus in India. "... There should be no deviation from normal journalistic behaviour and activities, or from the provisions governing journalist visas," Mr Bagchi said. It is not known how many Chinese journalists are operating in India.
With inputs from PTI
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