BEIJING: Beijing's refusal to give a visa to an Army general because he commanded troops in J&K may have hurt relations but China betrayed signs it was hardening its approach to India in July. That was when officers of China's Public Security Bureau (PSB) marched unannounced into the India Pavilion at the World Expo2010 in Shanghai and confiscated brochures bearing a map of India.
Indian government officials told TOI that the PSB said they were taking the maps away because China objects to showing Arunachal Pradesh as part of Indian territory. Beijing claims Arunachal and does not recognize the frontier as a border. The PSB is really a euphemism for the police and is empowered to monitor foreign visitors and control dissent on campuses.
''They should have sent a letter to the Indian government instead of simply walking in and taking away the maps,'' an official said. The India Tourism Promotion Board, which put up the pavilion, and the Indian Consulate in Shanghai were not informed ahead of the incident of July 12. It happened within days of the National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon visiting Beijing as Manmohan Singh's special envoy and meeting premier Wen Jiabao. Ironically, China has not objected to Pakistan distributing maps showing another disputed area, Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, on Chinese soil.
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