NEW DELHI: A range of
cultural events, planned by the Indian and Chinese governments, which have been put on hold because of Covid-19, might have to go through several layers of diplomatic scrutiny even after the pandemic, following the recent aggression of Chinese forces in Ladakh, ET has learnt.
After Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and Chinese President
Xi Jinping met in Mamallapuram in October last year, both countries had announced plans to host 70 events to mark 2020 as “the year of India-China cultural and people-to-people exchanges”.
However, on April 1, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson
Hua Chunying said some of the events will be hit because of Covid. The events planned included a joint flag-off of the
Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, a ‘Beautiful China’ photo exhibition in India and an ‘Incredible India’ photo exhibition in China, music and dance festivals, sinology conference, India-China civilisational talks,
film festivals,
hackathons,
business events,
Buddhist events, trade fairs, fashion shows and food festivals.
Officials in Nava Nalanda Mahavihara in Bihar, which is under the culture ministry, confirmed to ET that the events stood postponed due to Covid-19.