India resumes tourist visas for Chinese nationals

In a step toward mending strained relations, India will begin granting tourist visas to Chinese nationals again, marking the first such move in five years since tensions flared between the two nations.

The Indian Embassy in Beijing made the announcement Wednesday, saying Chinese citizens can now apply for tourist visas by completing an online application, securing an appointment, and personally submitting their passports and other required documents.

The resumption of tourist visas is viewed as a symbolic gesture toward normalizing ties between Asia’s two largest nations, whose relations plummeted following the deadly Galwan Valley clash in June 2020.

The Himalayan border skirmish — the first fatal military confrontation between the two countries since 1975 — claimed the lives of at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese troops. The incident erupted after Indian forces discovered Chinese-built observation posts and tents on India’s side of the Line of Actual Control. The confrontation, which involved brutal hand-to-hand combat with stones and nail-studded wooden clubs, drew global attention and triggered a near-total freeze in bilateral exchanges.

In the wake of the violence, New Delhi tightened economic scrutiny on Chinese investments, banned dozens of Chinese mobile applications, and halted direct air travel between the two countries. Bilateral ties, once robust, entered one of their most fragile phases in recent memory.

Despite the ongoing border standoff, signs of diplomatic thaw have emerged in the past year. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Russia last October during a multilateral summit, where both leaders acknowledged the need to stabilize relations and avoid escalation.

The restoration of tourist visas is one of the clearest signs yet of a slow but deliberate détente.