China has cancelled plans to jointly launch commemorative stamps with India, an apparent reflection of strained relations over a military standoff along the border. China’s State Post Bureau had planned with India to jointly launch a stamp in April commemorating 2020 as the 70th year of bilateral relations.

China has cancelled plans to jointly launch commemorative stamps with India, an apparent reflection of strained relations over a military standoff along the border. China’s State Post Bureau had planned with India to jointly launch a stamp in April commemorating 2020 as the 70th year of bilateral relations and a special stamp showing the Mogao Caves, a renowned site in China’s Gansu province where the Buddhist grottoes reflect the two countries’ cultural links.

In a one-line statement it read that the State Post Office has decided to cancel the planned joint issue of stamps between China and India in the 2020 special stamp-issue programme. The statement was published in Mandarin under the headline: “Notice from the State Post Office on the cancellation of the joint issue of stamps between China and India.”

Chinese side didn’t give any reason for the decision to cancel the launch of the commemorative stamp. The stamp was to be jointly launched as part of celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries in 1950.

The launch was agreed during the second informal summit meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping held in Chennai in October 2019.