India and China will resume direct flights this month, which will be another step towards normalization of bilateral relations. Direct flights between the two countries have been suspended since 2020 after a bloody military clash on their shared border in the Himalayas, reports BBC.
During the last year, both states took measures to restore relations, in particular, aimed at de-escalating tensions on the border. On October 2, the large Indian budget airline IndiGo announced that it will resume direct flights between the cities of Kolkata and Guangzhou from October 26.
In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India, it was noted that the resumption of air traffic “will further facilitate people-to-people contacts” and contribute to the “gradual normalization of bilateral exchanges” between India and China.
India and China share more than 3,440 km of intricately defined borders and have territorial claims against each other. In 2020, the troops of the two countries clashed near the Galwan River, resulting in the deaths of at least 20 Indian and 4 Chinese soldiers. It was the first fatal incident between the two sides since 1975 and led to a freeze in bilateral relations.
However, over the past year, Beijing and Delhi have taken a number of steps to restore contacts. High-ranking representatives of both countries held several rounds of negotiations and meetings. Last year in October, the states agreed on joint patrols to reduce tensions on the disputed border in the Himalayas.
This year, China allowed Indian pilgrims to visit selected religious sites in the Tibet Autonomous Region, while India resumed issuing visas to Chinese tourists and agreed to resume talks on opening border trade through separate checkpoints.
Deterioration of India’s relations with the US has also become an incentive for intensifying cooperation between Delhi and Beijing. In August, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Delhi, saying that countries should see each other as partners, not rivals.
Also in August, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China for the first time in seven years to attend the Shanghai Defense Cooperation Organization summit. On the sidelines of the summit, he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and they confirmed their support for the normalization of bilateral relations.
