Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee Cancels China Visit

West Bengal chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, has cancelled her China visit as meetings at an "appropriate level" couldn't be arranged.

In a letter to the Communist Party of China (CPC), Banerjee stated that failure in arranging meetings at an “appropriate level” led to the cancellation of her visit.

The visit was under an exchange programme between India and the CPC’s international department. The cancellation is being seen as a setback to bilateral ties

The original schedule

According to the initial plan, Banerjee was scheduled to travel to Beijing and Shanghai, reported HT. She was to attend several events in both cities. The events also included an investors’ meeting.

The focus of the trip was to attract investments in West Bengal.

Banerjee cancelled the eight-day trip as her request for a meeting with one of the top leaders of CPC was denied.

She was to meet the minister of the CPC’s international department. However, the Indian side tried arranging a meeting with someone at the top, keeping in mind her political stature in India. They requested a meeting with someone from the seven-member committee of the CPC at the Vice-President level. But the negotiations did not reach a conclusion.

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Ma Zhanwu, China’s consul general in Kolkata, had told the media that some memorandums of understanding were also to be signed during her visit.

Banerjee's Letter

The Chief Minister's official letter was released on Friday afternoon.

“Till yesterday everything was going on well but unfortunately the Chinese side could not confirm the political meetings at appropriate level as informed by our Ambassador in China,” her letter said.

“Therefore, the purpose of my visit with a delegation to China under the Exchange Programme is of no use,” she added.

She wrote, that the “non-confirmation of the political meetings” at the last moment “unfortunately compelled us to cancel the visit”.

Banerjee revealed through a tweet that the visit was in fact recommended by external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj. Swaraj recommended to her in March that she should lead a delegation to China under the exchange programme.

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Kriti Dwivedi is an intern with SheThePeople.Tv