India has restored Chinese tourist visa services from July 24, 2025. This follows a five-year hiatus, a time that was dominated to a large extent by the COVID-19 pandemic and strained diplomatic relations after the 2020 border clash in the Galwan Valley.
It has been confirmed by the Indian Embassy in Beijing that Chinese citizens can now apply for tourist visas through the standard online application process, followed by submitting documents in person at Indian Visa Application Centres in Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou. This is a welcome step towards normalized people-to-people contact and relaxing the long-standing diplomatic chill.
A Period of Cautious Rapprochement
The move is a culmination of some recent upbeat developments between the two Asian giants. The two nations, earlier this year, saw the disengagement of troops from strategic military face-off positions in eastern Ladakh as a sign of commitment to de-escalate border tensions. Direct flights between New Delhi and Beijing also resumed in January 2025, and there have been discussions about restarting the sacred Kailash Manasarovar Yatra for Indian pilgrims.
External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar\’s recent visit to China to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers\’ meeting also further strengthened the revived momentum.
This move is most prompted by a pragmatic acknowledgment of interdependence in economic terms. India remains a big market for Chinese goods, particularly electronics, machines, and chemical technology, and India\’s reliance on China for raw materials and technological inputs. The looming uncertainty of world geopolitics, particularly in the aftermath of a potential shift of US foreign policy under a potential Trump administration, is also influencing this guarded rapprochement.
How Will the Growing Bonhomie Between India-China Affect US
India\’s warming relationship with China will likely inject a subtle factor into India\’s relationship with the US. As the US has attempted to strengthen its strategic relationship with India as a buffer against China\’s rising presence in the Indo-Pacific, India\’s re-engagement with China indicates a more multipolar foreign policy.
From India\’s point of view, building a stable relationship with China is a strategic necessity to prevent a two-front military scenario and to manage its massive trade deficit. It also acts as a hedge against future unpredictability in US foreign policy. For the US, this would mean a rethink of its strategy in the Indo-Pacific. While Washington will preferentially want India to be more exclusively aligned with its vision for the region, India\’s pragmatic instincts would ensure that it will most likely continue to seek multi-directional alignments. This may involve, while defense cooperation and strategic dialogue with the US continues, India may also seek to stabilize its economic and diplomatic relationship with China to prevent total alienation that is anathema to its interests. The US will have to realize that India\’s overtures towards China are not necessarily a zero-sum game, but an effort to deal with a complex geopolitical environment, with its national interests paramount.
