India Resumes Tourist Visas for Chinese Nationals After 5-Year Gap

In a sign of a growing thaw in India-China relations, India has decided to grant tourist visas to Chinese nationals after a five-year hiatus. India suspended the tourist visas for Chinese nationals in 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In a step to improve bilateral relations and resolve the border dispute, the 34th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affair was held in New Delhi on 23 July 2025.

Timeline of Suspension of Tourist Visa  

The Indian Embassy in Beijing, along with its consulates in Shanghai and Guangzhou, has begun accepting tourist visa applications as of July 24, 2025.

Both countries suspended visa and direct flight services in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In June 2020, there was a clash between the Indian and Chinese troops in Galwan, Ladakh, along the Line of Actual Control (LAC)  in which 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers were killed. 

Since then, the relationship between the two countries has gone into a deep freeze.

In 2022, China resumed issuing visas to Indians, but there has been no resumption of direct flights between the two countries.

Improvement in Relationship 

There has been a gradual increase in diplomatic and political interaction between the top leadership of both countries, with small steps taken to improve bilateral relations.

In October 2024, both countries withdrew their troops to the pre-April 2020 levels in the Demchok and Despang areas of Ladakh, which had been a source of conflict between the two sides.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the 16th BRICS Summit in 2024 in Kazan, Russia. 

The Indian Foreign Secretary, Vikram Misri, visited China in January 2025, where both sides agreed to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in 2025 after a six-year gap.

They also agreed to resume direct flights between the two countries.

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited the Chinese city of Qingdao in June 2025 to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers’ meeting.

External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishanker visited China in July to attend the Council of Foreign Ministers meeting of the SCO in Tianjin, China, where he met the Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

China will host the 25th Heads of State Council meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), scheduled for August 31 to September 1, 2025, in Tianjin.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend, though there has been no official confirmation yet.

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