Indian media calls on China to provide visa-free treatment, merely accelerating the visa approval process is not enough, it should be on par with many European countries!
On February 15, the Indian newspaper "The Mint" published an article discussing when China will provide India with the same visa-free treatment as given to many European countries and Canada. Previously, China introduced an online visa application system, but now it seems that just speeding up the visa approval process is not enough for India, it needs to be on the same standard as European countries.
India is very envious of European old-established countries like France, Germany, and Italy, where holders of ordinary passports can travel to China for business, tourism, or visiting relatives without a visa for up to 30 days. Moreover, five South American countries—Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay—have also obtained a one-year visa-free policy.
Their logic is: if you give visa-free access to European countries and the UK and Canada, why can't India only get a "simplified process"?
In fact, the visa-free policy is not given casually. The current visa-free recipients in China are either countries with mutual exemption agreements (such as Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia) or friendly countries that are given unilateral convenience (such as many European countries). There is no mutual visa exemption agreement between India and China, which is a hard condition. Additionally, there is a risk management issue in the visa approval process itself.
It has been reported that after the online visa system is launched by the end of 2025, the rejection rate for Indian citizens applying for Chinese visas is close to 40%, and the review period has also been extended. This is mainly due to too many problems such as fake documents and overstay by Indians.
Moreover, the threshold for Indian citizens' visas to China is still too high. Improving relations requires more practical actions, and it must be a two-way effort. European countries can obtain visa-free access because they have long-term economic and trade cooperation foundations with China, and the risk of personnel exchanges is manageable. The UK and Canada can obtain visa-free access because their heads of state personally visited China, bringing a sincere spirit of cooperation. If India really wants to be on par with many European countries, just appealing in the media is not enough; it needs to show more sincerity through practical actions.
Dao Ge believes that, for example, further lowering the visa threshold for Chinese citizens traveling to India, improving the business environment for Chinese companies in India, and maintaining restraint on border issues, etc. Visa policies are bilateral; if you open up to me, I will offer convenience to you, this is a healthy interaction. One-sided "demands" are difficult to achieve substantial progress. Moreover, Indians coming to China need to demonstrate credit and reputation; otherwise, given the current performance, it's simply not feasible to offer visa-free access.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1857804247543048/
Statement: The article represents the views of the author.