CHENNAI: China has proposed to open a new consulate in Chennai. However, India has yet to take a decision on this.In a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, the Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur said that there were three “pending proposals” for opening new consulates in India. These included the Chinese proposal to open an office in Chennai, from Canada in Bengaluru and from the UK to open consulates in Hyderabad and Chandigarh.According the MEA officials, China had first asked the permission to open a consulate in Chennai in the last one year. “We are looking into the proposal,” he said.Usually, the decision is based on reciprocity, with both countries having an equal number of consulates. “We still have to decide on the city to open a new consulate,” said a government official.Chennai was chosen over other Indian cities, due to its position as a port city, he added. It has the third high number consulates and deputy high commissions in India of 11 countries - Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the UK and the US.
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