India Resumes Tourist Visas For Chinese Nationals Amid Improving Ties With China

India has expanded the resumption of tourist visas for Chinese citizens, allowing them to apply through Indian embassies and consulates around the world. This marks another step towards gradual normalization of bilateral relations after the protracted military standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Tourist visas for Chinese citizens were first resumed in July, but only through India’s missions in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, according to a report by Hindustan Times. The broader global reopening, quietly implemented earlier this week, follows the suspension of visas in 2020 following the LAC standoff and the deadly Galwan Valley clash, which claimed the lives of 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese soldiers and sent ties to their lowest point in six decades.

India and China recently agreed on several “people-centric steps” aimed at stabilizing relations, according to sources familiar with the development. Direct flights, which have been suspended since the beginning of 2020, restarted in October. Both sides agreed to revive the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra to holy sites in Tibet this summer, improve visa convenience across multiple traveler categories and commemorate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations. Events were held at the embassies and consulates in both countries to mark the anniversary.

“These steps aim to facilitate people-to-people exchanges under the guidance of the leaders of the two countries,” one of the people mentioned in the report said.

Normalization momentum picked up after India and China agreed to disengage frontline forces along the LAC in October 2024. This breakthrough was followed by a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in Kazan, where they decided to revive various bilateral mechanisms to resolve long-standing issues, including the border dispute.

Since then, foreign and defense ministers, national security advisors and Special Envoys on the border issue, including India’s NSA Ajit Doval and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, have held multiple rounds of talks. These engagements have produced agreements to continue cooperation in a variety of areas, from border trade to economic issues. China has also begun to address India’s trade concerns, including restrictions on exports of rare earth minerals.

Together, these coordinated measures point to a cautious but steady rebuilding of one of Asia’s most important relationships.