After China cancelled the joint launch of a commemorative stamp with India alleging that India did not give its feedback within the given time frame, India has declared the Chinese allegations as factually incorrect. The joint release of the commemorative stamp to celebrate the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries was cancelled by Chinese embassy claiming on December 9 that India did not give its feedback regarding the same.
Chinese Embassy Spokesperson Ji Rong had posted a tweet on December 9 saying, “Regarding cancellation of joint issue of commemorative stamp to mark 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties between India and China, the reason is Indian side had not given feedback before launch time agreed by both sides. China State Post Bureau made the notice according to customary practices.”
Regarding cancellation of joint issue of commemorative stamp to mark 70th anni of dipl ties btw #China & #India, the reason is Indian side had not given feedback before launch time agreed by both sides. China State Post Bureau made the notice according to customary practices.
— Ji Rong (@ChinaSpox_India) December 9, 2020
Refuting the Chinese claims, MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said there was no discussion on any launch date for the stamp with China. “Joint release of commemorative stamp to mark the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between India and China was one of the activities agreed with the Chinese side last year. However, there had been no discussion on any launch date with any Chinese authorities for this activity”, he said during a weekly briefing.
Srivastava said that the launch of the 70th anniversary celebration itself has not taken place as of now and therefore there was no issue of going ahead with joint activities under its ambit.
70th anniversary of diplomatic ties between India and China
This year marks the 70th year of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and China. During last year’s Chennai Connect Summit, it was agreed that 35 events would take place in India and 35 events would take place in China to commemorate the anniversary. One of the events was the joint release of the commemorative stamps for the 70th anniversary this year. The stamp was reportedly to be based on the Mogao Caves, a renowned site in China’s Gansu province where the Buddhist grottoes reflect ancient Sino-Indian cultural links.
