India has resumed issuing tourist visas to Chinese citizens, ending a five-year halt that began during the Covid-19 pandemic. The move reflects renewed efforts by both governments to normalise relations and restore travel, tourism, and people-to-people ties. For many years India had not been able to see eye to eye with China on numerous issues, not merely centred around the India-China border, but also other aspects like Beijing’s One Road One Belt initiative or its attempted dominance of the Indo-Pacific region. However, there had been periods of goodwill too, when the realisation had dawned that mutual hostility between the two major Asian nations had proved disadvantageous, especially in matters of trade, which would be better served by engaging in more amicable relations.
But, the serious border clash at the Line of Actual Control in the Galwan Valley of Ladakh in June 2020, when 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed, had put paid to any warming up of relationship and started a half-decade-long phase that marked the nadir in India-China exchanges. In tit-for-tat moves, India imposed restrictions on Chinese investments and visas for Chinese nationals and banned Chinese apps, and China retaliated with similar measures, including suspension of visas for Indian nationals and direct flights to China, as also withdrawal of permission for the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra.
The rapprochement commenced after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met at the 2024 BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia; diplomacy picked up following this pivotal encounter, with high-level meetings such as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s discussions in China, finally leading to resumption of the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra, direct flights between India and China, and issuance of visas apart from business visas. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has described India’s decision as “positive,” and affirmed Beijing’s readiness to work with New Delhi to further facilitate bilateral travel. Chinese nationals are now eligible to apply for Indian tourist visas using an online system, followed by a biometric appointment at visa centres in Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou.
Such a move signals a deliberate, reciprocal thawing of the meaningless animosity between the two nations and has been welcomed by knowledgeable circles, especially because it has occurred in the backdrop of the tariff skirmish embarked upon by US President Donald Trump. However, the move is much more than a policy update, for while it certainly will prove to be commercially profitable, concerned opinion also hopes that, by bringing about empathy through people-to-people contact, it might assist in bringing the two nations even closer, and initiate a new chapter in India-China relations. That the step has been retaken during the year that marks the 75th anniversary of China-India diplomatic relations does carry a symbolic weight and indicates as to what can be achieved through mutual cooperation.