Talks on over IAF evacuation plane’s arrival: China

Beijing: China on Monday said “competent authorities” from the two countries were in contact over the planned arrival of the India Air Force’s (IAF) relief and

Beijing: China on Monday said “competent authorities” from the two countries were in contact over the planned arrival of the India Air Force’s (IAF) relief and evacuation aircraft in novel coronavirus (COVID-19)-hit Wuhan, days after India said Beijing was deliberately delaying it.

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The statement from the Chinese foreign ministry comes amid the back and forth between New Delhi and Beijing over the delay in the IAF aircraft getting the required clearance to land in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

After bringing in medical supplies to aid China, on its way back the transport aircraft is scheduled to evacuate around 100 Indians, who continue to be stranded in Wuhan, locked down for over a month now.

“Competent authorities of the two countries have been in communication and coordinating on this matter,” the Chinese foreign ministry told Hindustan Times in a written statement.

On Friday, spokesperson, Geng Shuang, had said: “There is no such a thing as China delaying giving flight permissions.”

There apparently is a delay, according to external affairs ministry officials in New Delhi who said over the weekend that Beijing was simply not moving on New Delhi’s plea.

The Indian embassy in Beijing told the anxious Indians in Wuhan over the weekend that it was waiting for Beijing to give permission for the flight to land, asking them to ready to be transported to the Wuhan airport and fly at a short notice.

India submitted details of the IAF’s Boeing-made C17 Gobemaster III aircraft to the Chinese foreign ministry over a week ago.

It is not clear what has caused the delay but in the same statement the Chinese foreign ministry sent to Hindustan Times on Monday, it responded to a query on India’s ban on medical imports to China.

On the “prohibition on the export of medical materials, China has taken note of the ban issued by relevant departments of India,” the statement said.

“I want to point out that the Indian side has on many occasions publicly expressed its support to the Chinese government and people in their all-out efforts to combat the outbreak of the new coronavirus pneumonia. China appreciates this,” it further said.

“We hope that the Indian side will, in the spirit of humanitarianism, release as soon as possible the medical and protective materials purchased by China before the ban and take concrete actions to support the Chinese people in fighting the epidemic,” it added.

A leading Beijing-based south Asian expert , who did not wish to be named, said that the ban on anti-epidemic material could be the reason behind the delay in clearing the aircraft.

The ban on exporting protective clothing could be the primary reason, despite the China-specific waiver that New Delhi implemented a week after the ban on January 31.

What could have irked Beijing is that the initial ban on protective clothing was implemented abruptly and delayed orders, especially for masks, that were placed by Chinese companies last month.

As a result of the ban, a large volume of masks meant for China got stuck at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi for days and a crucial week was lost.

Even after the ban was partially lifted on February 8, the perception in China is that it still prohibited the export of high-standard and critical anti-epidemic materials like N95 / N90 masks and European standard FFP1 / FFP2 / FFP3 masks and protective clothing to China.

Beijing is under the impression that India didn’t reach out to China at a time of a major crisis while the Chinese authorities pulled out all stops to evacuate 647 Indian nationals in the days after the mask ban was put in place.

Other reasons could have irked China as well such as India closely followed the United States to take the lead in evacuation and imposition of embargoes on Chinese cities, banned e-visas for Chinese nationals, last week’s visit of home minister Amit Shah to Arunachal Pradesh and the seizure of the Chinese ship “Da Cuiyun” at Gujarat’s Kandla port on charges of carrying suspected cargo to Port Qasim in Karachi, Pakistan.