New Delhi: The Chinese embassy in India took to social media Thursday to urge New Delhi to restore direct passenger flights between the two neighbouring countries.
Direct passenger flights have not been operating between India and China for the last four years, since the Covid-19 pandemic. Direct cargo flights, however, are continuing.
“Share[d] a video clip made by a Chinese media based on their research and data sources. They cannot help but ask: why is India distancing itself from China?” a spokesperson of the Chinese embassy posted on X.
China has been pressing India to resume direct flights, and the subject was even brought up by former Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang during his meeting with external affairs minister S. Jaishankar in New Delhi in March 2023, on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers’ conclave.
New Delhi has remained reluctant to resume direct flights due to the border dispute between the two countries that remains a flashpoint for ties.
While flights were originally cancelled due to the pandemic in March 2020, the Galwan clashes in eastern Ladakh in June that year – the biggest military confrontation between the two neighbours in decades – led to the continued restriction on direct flights between the two countries, according to reports.
After the clashes, India banned a raft of popular Chinese social media applications and restricted visas to Chinese nationals – both tourist and business visas.
According to media reports, India issued around 47,000 business visas to Chinese nationals in 2018 and close to 1,50,000 e-visas. However, by 2023-2024, only about 2,500 business visas and 3,000 e-visas were issued to Chinese companies and workers.
In 2019, a total of 3,39,442 tourist arrivals from China were documented by the Indian ministry of tourism. By 2021, this number dropped to 3,502. In 2022, a total of 11,762 tourist arrivals from China were documented by the ministry.
In 2019, a total of 539 direct flights were scheduled between India and China, with the majority operated by Chinese air carriers, according to Reuters.
Beijing is India’s top trading partner, with over $118 billion worth of goods traded between the two countries in 2023-2024. India imported about $101 billion worth of goods from China in the fiscal, according to the commerce ministry.
While economic ties between New Delhi and Beijing continue to grow, direct flights between the two countries remain closed. Those looking to travel between the two countries have to fly via Hong Kong, Singapore or West Asia.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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