China to allow ‘some’ Indian students to return: Chinese Foreign Ministry

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Friday announced plans to permit the return of “some” Indian students stranded in India for over two years following the visa and flight restrictions imposed by Beijing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here that “China attaches high importance to Indian students' concerns about returning to China for studies. We have shared with the Indian sides the procedures and experience of other countries’ students returning to China”.

“Actually, the work for Indian students’ return has already been started. All that remains to be done is for the Indian side to provide the list of students who need to come back to China,” he said.

Meanwhile, Indian embassy in Beijing has asked the Indian students who are stuck in India in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, to furnish their details in the google form that it has shared on social media platforms for their smooth return to China to continue their offline studies. 

In a statement, the Indian embassy in Beijing said, “… intends to prepare a list of students which will be shared with the Chinese side for their consideration."

India on Thursday had expressed concern over thousands of Indian students being unable to resume their studies in China and said they should benefit from mechanisms being put in place by Chinese authorities for the return of foreign scholars.

Thousands of Indian students, most of them enrolled in medical courses, have been unable to return to universities in China because of Covid-19-related travel restrictions put in place by Beijing. There has been no word from China on allowing the return of Indian students but on April 21, Beijing did allow a batch of students from Sri Lanka to return to their campuses to resume in-person learning.

As per earlier reports, over 23,000 Indian students, mostly studying medicine in Chinese colleges, are stuck in India after they returned home as the coronavirus broke out in China in December 2019. They could not return to China due to the restrictions imposed by the Chinese government to arrest the spread of the contagion.

Reports have suggested that the matter is linked to the border standoff between Indian and Chinese troops at the Line of Actual Control since early 2020 – a development that has taken bilateral relations to an all-time low. Ties between the two countries worsened after 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops were killed in a clash at Galwan Valley in June 2020.