India, China discuss return of stranded students, resumption of direct flights

India and China have discussed the return of thousands of Indian students stranded at home for two years due to Beijings Covid19 bans and resumption of direct flights disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic the Indian embassy here said on ThursdayThe vexed issue of the return of the Indian students figured in the talks between Indian Ambassador to China Pradeep Kumar Rawat and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on WednesdayWang recalled his meeting with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar during his visit to New Delhi in March this year and mentioned that the Chinese side attached importance to the Indian sides concerns regarding the return of Indian students and that he hoped to see early progress on this a press release from the Indian Embassy quoted Wang as sayingForeign Minister Wang also referred to discussions on the resumption of direct flight connectivity between the two sides it saidAmbassador Rawat conveyed that the relevant agencies in India are seized of the matter and we may see progress in the matter soon it saidChina in recent months began permitting some foreign students to return to the countryAlso Read Returning back may cost over Rs 3 lakh say Indian medical students after China allows some to pursue offline studiesOn June 20 the first batch of 90 Pakistani students stuck back home for about two years due to Chinas strict visa restrictions arrived in the Chinese city of XianThey are part of 250 Pakistani students China has agreed to permit to return based on their requirements while thousands more are awaiting Beijings nod according to the media reports from PakistanSimilarly some of the stranded students from other countries including Russia and Sri Lanka are being gradually allowed to returnIn April after repeated representations from India China agreed to permit the return of some Indian students and asked the Indian Embassy here to collect the details of those seeking to returnAs per Chinas official reports over 23000 Indian students are studying in Chinese colleges mostly medical coursesOver 12000 Indian students have expressed their wish to return and their details have been forwarded to the Chinese government for processingChina is yet to come up with a criterion to permit the return of the students as Beijing is reluctant to allow their return at once in large numbers in view of the recent Covid19 spike in the countryLast week China announced plans to provide visas to Indian professionals and their families working in various Chinese cities who are stuck back home for over two years due to Beijings Covid19 visa bansThe Chinese embassy in India updated its Covid19 visa policy after over two years to accept visa applications of foreign nationals and their accompanying family members wanting to go to China for the resumption of work in all fieldsThis week it further updated with Covid19 protocols to be followed by visa holders to travel to China While opening visa services to Indians China and India are yet to announce plans to resume flight services between the two countriesCurrently only diplomats between the two countries travel through expensive thirdcountry flight routesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever