New Delhi, Feb. 11: The Government of India does not seem to be too keen on engaging itself in any ping pong diplomacy when the Chinese table tennis players come to Delhi next week for playing some exhibition matches under the vigilant eyes of the political commissars chaperoning them. There is still no clear indication from the Chinese side whether it is really interested in an early thaw in Sino-Indian relations, since the Indian assessments of the possible motivations behind the latest Chinese smiles are based more on intelligent guesswork than authentic information. In spite of repeated reminders, the Chinese delegation has not yet given the names of players and others accompanying them to Delhi. All that the Indian hosts, the Table Tennis Federation of India, have been told so far is that almost immediately after the conclusion of the world championship tournament in Calcutta on February 16, most of the Chinese players will be leaving for Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. The rest of them including some officials of the delegation will arrive in Delhi on February 18 after a day’s rest. The arrangements for their stay and entertainment in Delhi are being made by the Table Tennis Federation in India which maintains its contacts with the Government only through the Ministry of Education. In other words, the External Affairs Ministry is keeping out of both the organisational and hospitality parts of the Chinese team’s visit to Delhi. Hence unless the Chinese functionaries accompanying the players want to make courtesy calls on Indian officials dealing with Sino-Indian relations, the External Affairs Ministry does not propose to take any initiative for having any political exchanges with them.
Published - February 12, 2025 03:55 am IST
