If a formal diplomatic protest on Indian troop deployment in Sikkim and a show of concern over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh were not enough to dampen the euphoria after PM’s trip to Beijing last month, China has now held back clearance to Jet Airways for flying to Shanghai and beyond — an issue that was said to be resolved during Singh’s high-profile visit. The clearance was to come as part of a reciprocal understanding that India will allow Chinese cargo carrier Great Wall Airlines to fly to Mumbai and Chennai despite security concerns raised by the National Security Council Secretariat and other agencies. While India was quick to keep its side of the promise by lifting all security objections and giving clearance to Great Wall Airlines for applying with the DGCA, sources said, China has now surprised India by raising doubts on the question of beyond fifth freedom rights in the air bilateral agreement. This right essentially allows respective carriers to pick up passengers from either country and fly to a third country.According to China, both countries agreed to these rights but at the same time specified that this would be restricted to three regions beyond the two countries. It may be noted that Jet plans to fly to the US from China and its first aim is to get its Mumbai-Shanghai-San Fransisco flight off the ground. But that now seems to have run into rough weather.It’s learnt that China wants both sides to first identify and reach an agreement on the three regions to which carriers from the two countries can exercise fifth freedom rights. At first, India suggested that US could be identified as one of the regions so that Jet Airways is not delayed. But China turned it down and insisted first for an official-level meeting to identify these regions. So India has now proposed a set of dates within the next month.The whole move has surprised India because this was one issue which was considered resolved when Singh visited China. In fact, it was seen as one of the biggest outcomes from the business summit which was a key highlight of the visit.
