China teams not to visit defence and auto expos

New Delhi: Chinese delegations will not be visiting two mega exhibitions — DefExpo 2020 and Auto Expo —starting this week in India due to the outbreak of coronavirus.

Chinese delegations have cancelled their visit to the biennial mega defence exhibition Defence Expo 2020 to be held in Lucknow between February 5 and February 9, sources said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the DefExpo-2020 on Wednesday. Some 1,024 companies, including 165 foreign companies, will be participating in the expo.

Union defence secretary Ajay Kumar had said on Friday that  the delegates coming from coronavirus-affected countries for DefExpo 2020 will undergo proper screening.

Industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) president Rajan Wadhera said that all Chinese companies participating at the Auto Expo have confirmed that their exhibit area would be manned by their Indian employees or representatives.

He said that none of these stalls would be manned by anybody who has come to India recently from China.