Visa row: Indian defence delegation arrives in Beijing

A scaled down Indian military delegation arrived in Beijing on Monday for a four-day defence exchange visit after the original programme of sending a much larger team was hit by a row on denial of visa to an Indian Air Force officer from Arunachal Pradesh.

The 15-member delegation headed by Air Vice Marshal P S Mann would interact with their Chinese counterparts and visit defence installations during its stay in the country.

The delegation comprising officers from all the three defence forces would visit the General Staff Headquarters of the People's Liberation Army in Beijing on tuesday and meet PLA Deputy Chief, Gen Ma Xiaotian.

Besides Beijing, they are also scheduled to visit Nanjing and Shanghai.

Also on their schedule are visits to naval and airbases, an army unit and PLA University of Science and Technology. The size of the delegation was reduced from 30 to 15

following denial of visa to IAF Group Captain M Panging by China on the ground that he hailed from Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as part of southern Tibet.

The visit is part of a defence exchange programme between the two countries.