Oust Chinese engineers from Arunachal: BJP MP

A BJP MP on Thursday said four Chinese engineers, employed by a private company in Arunachal Pradesh for oil exploration...

A BJP MP on Thursday said four Chinese engineers, employed by a private company in Arunachal Pradesh for oil exploration, should not be allowed to work till Beijing announces that it will grant visas to people of the state who want to visit that country.

Kiren Rijiju said L I Mangbing, Fu Haidong, Cao Xingshen and Yan Zhiging arrived in Kharsang on May 21 with protected area permits to stay till July 20. They were employed with a private company as a partner of a production-sharing contract with Oil India Limited for exploration of oil at Kharsang in Changlang district.

Rijiju said he would raise the issue in the next session of Parliament, as the Centre knew that China had last year refused visa to an IAS official from the state to visit that country as part of an official delegation.

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Asked if the Chinese visa to Marpe Sora, an Arunachal Pradesh-born teacher of the lone Central university of the state, later that year reflected a change in China’s attitude towards the border state, Rijiju said it was a welcome step but there was yet no clarification either by the Chinese Embassy or their foreign ministry about the change of their stance. Rijiju said he was all for better relations with China and had hoped that the Centre reopens border trade with Beijing through Tawang, but neither Prime Minister Manmohan Singh nor External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee put forward the proposal before the Chinese authorities during their recent visits to that country.

Rijiju claimed New Delhi did not pursue resumption of trade through Tawang, closed since the 1962 war, in apprehension that China may put forward a difficult counter proposal. There was also the fear that cheap Chinese goods would flood the market, he added.