China and India resume direct flights after five years

China and India resume direct flights after five years

China and India have agreed to take direct flights again after five years of interruption. This is another sign for the warming relationships between the two most populous countries in the world.

background of the travel restrictions

The flights between India and the mainland china were stopped at the beginning of Covid pandemic in the early year 2020 and remained interrupted due to continuing political tensions between the two countries. The announcement on the resumption of flights was made on Monday when India's Secretary of State Vikram Misri met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing.

Details to resume flights

In a statement by the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was announced that the two countries had "generally achieved a consensus to resume direct flight connections". The official negotiations on the details should take place "in the near future". China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also confirmed the reopening of Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar in the western Tibet for Indian pilgrims this year. These two places have a sacred importance for Hindus, Buddhists, Jain and Bon-Solers and are popular pilgrimage destinations.

military tensions and relaxation

months after the flight of the flights, there was a bloody handmade in the Himalayas on the controversial border between the two countries, in which at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed. Both India and China keep a significant military presence along its 3,379 kilometers of de facto border, known as Line of Actual Control (LAC). This limit has never been clearly defined and has been a constant source of tensions since the war between the two countries in 1962

The collision in June 2020 was followed by a process of demilitarization and negotiations across the border, including an agreement on military patrols. Nevertheless, there are still tensions in other areas. In the past few months, both countries have tried to reduce the tensions after there had been a rare meeting between the Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October at the BRICS summit in Russia.

expectations of tourists

The news about the agreement on the resumption of the commercial flights caused enthusiasm on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. A Chinese user reported that he bought a flight ticket to India in February 2020, but shortly before his departure, both his flight and his visa were canceled. India had suspended all tourist visa at the beginning of the pandemic to stop the spread of Covid-19.

"The waiting time lasted five years ... I have to go to India," he wrote in a post on Monday. Another user expressed the desire to take part in the Indian Festival Holi also known as the festival of colors, in which humans wear simple, inexpensive clothing And go on the streets to spray yourself with colorful powder and organize water struggles.

direct flights and their advantages

In the past, passengers could travel directly between Beijing and Neu-Delhi within seven hours. Currently, travelers who want to travel between these two capitals have to fly via stops in cities such as Hong Kong, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, which extends the trip by six to ten hours. Anayat Ali, an Indian doctoral student in Shanghai, was enthusiastic about CNN about the news of the direct flights: "With the direct flights, I can visit my family more frequently, reduce costs and avoid the stress of stopover."

The Chinese authorities and airlines had asked the Indian civil flight authorities to restore the direct flights. However, New Delhi resisted these demands, Reuters reported last June. The lengthy negotiations have prompted some users on Weibo to doubt the possibility of being able to travel to India soon. "It is a fundamental agreement," noticed one of them on Monday.