Chinese scribes’ Bengaluru visit irked govt

NEW DELHI: Three journalists from Chinese state-run media Xinhua, whose visas were not extended by India beyond July 31, may have irked the Indian security agencies after they visited Bengaluruto meet exiled Tibetan activists recently. This is understood to be the trigger in asking the trio to return, though the Modi government officially said scribes overstayed in India beyond their permissible time period.

The Modi government refused to renew visas of the scribes working out of Delhi and Mumbai following adverse reports from intelligence agencies. They have been ordered to leave India by 31July.

The three journalists are Xinhua’s bureau in New Delhi and Mumbai. Wu Qiang heads the Delhi bureau, Lu Tang manages the Mumbai headquarters and the third journalist She Yonggang is a reporter based in Mumbai.

Sources speaking on the condition of anonymity said that the journalists had recently met Tibetan activists in Bangalore, which raised an alarm in the Indian establishment.

Though the Tibetan government in exile is headquartered in Dharamsala, thousands of Tibetans live in Karnataka. Interestingly, Delhi-based Chinese journalists have earlier visited Dharamsala and even met the Dalai Lama. But Xinhua is not the only Chinese outlets whose reporters are based in Delhi. State-run People's Daily and Chinese TV also have correspondents here.

"Overstaying visas could infer that the scribes may have been involved in non-journalistic work," another source pointed out.

The activities of these three scribes were under watch for past few months, people familiar with the developments said.

Their visas had expired earlier this year and since then they were being extended regularly. It is understood that India will welcome fresh Xinhua reporters for postings here. India's decision may further strain ties that have been strained following China's veto of India's NSG membership and efforts to ban Masood Azhar in UN.