NEW DELHI - India on Monday summoned Beijing’s deputy chief of mission in New Delhi to complain about a courtroom assault on an Indian diplomat in the Chinese city of Yiwu, officials and reports said.
Zhang Yue was called to the Indian foreign ministry after the incident on Saturday in which S. Balachandran was injured in a dispute between Chinese and Indian traders, said a government official who declined to be named. Balachandran taken to hospital after Chinese businessmen attacked him during a court case in which he was trying to secure the release of two Indians held over allegedly unpaid bills, the Press Trust of India news agency said.
In Beijing, Indian embassy spokesman Vinayak Chavan told AFP that Shanghai-based Balachandran was not badly hurt.
“It was not that serious, but there was some manhandling,” Chavan said.
Chinese officials were not immediately available for comment.
Relations between China and India have often been fraught, principally over disputed borders and the presence of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on Indian soil.
Despite growing trade ties, both fast-developing countries remain suspicious of each other as they compete for resources and influence overseas.