- In an unpleasant development, China has denied visa to a senior IAF officer hailing from Arunachal Pradesh, who was to be part of the team scheduled to travel to Beijing from January 10.
- Group Captain Panging, based in Northeast, was refused visa by the Chinese embassy without being given any reasons,
- The officer who was to be part of the Integrated Defence Staff team travelling to China on a four-day visit under a bilateral defence exchange programme.
- The 30-member tri-Service Indian delegation, being led by an Air Vice Marshal-rank officer, will visit Beijing, Nanjing and Shanghai there.
- China, which lays claim over Arunachal Pradesh, has often denied visa to those hailing from the state despite protests by India.
- Relations between India and China had soured in 2010 when the then Northern Army Commander Lt Gen BS Jaswal was denied visa as he was serving in Jammu and Kashmir, inferring that it questioned the status of the state.
