India has resumed issuing tourist visas to Chinese nationals after a five-year hiatus, as the two countries seek to repair their sour relationship. The Indian embassy in Beijing made the announcement on Wednesday via the Chinese social media platform Weibo, according to the state-owned Global Times newspaper. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun described the development as a “positive move” and stated that China was eager to collaborate with India to strengthen the “facilitation of people-to-people exchanges”. Following the 2020 military battles in Galwan Valley, which killed at least 20 Indian soldiers, India halted visas to China, restricted investment, and blacklisted many Chinese apps.
The clash occurred on the two countries’ de facto border, known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC). India and China share a border that is more than 3,440 kilometres (2,100 miles) long, with overlapping territorial claims. Flights and visa services between the two countries were prohibited during the pandemic, and they remained blocked when political tensions rose in the summer of 2020 following the conflict. However, relations have steadily improved. China began restarting visa services for Indians in 2022, and there has been a further increase following a session of high-level negotiations between the two sides last year. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the margins of the Brics meeting in Russia last year, where the two leaders committed to deepen communication to settle problems and strengthen ties. In June, India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met with China’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Sun Weidong in Delhi to discuss resuming direct flights, sharing data on transnational rivers, and improving “people-centric engagements”. Between January and April of this year, China issued 85,000 visas to Indian citizens. The Indian embassy stated in a Weibo post on Wednesday that Chinese citizens could apply for tourist visas in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, all in South China’s Guangdong Province, starting July 24.
The decision comes ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) defence meeting, which will be held in China in August. Media sources suggest that Modi may attend the meeting. If he does, this will be his first trip to the country since the 2020 skirmishes.
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