(TibetanReview.net, Dec22’25) – As China speaks of a positive trend in bilateral relations, it has moved to introduce a simplified visa process for Indian nationals that could help it tap its India’s fast-growing travel market, reported China’s official globaltimes.cn Dec 20 and scmp.com Dec 21, For India, however, it is a matter of navigating competition without closing the door on limited cooperation where interests overlap, even as trust continues to remain fragile, as reported by newindianexpress.com Dec 20, citing External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
The Chinese embassy in New Delhi said earlier this month that Indian citizens would be able to apply for visas online from Dec 22, sparing them time-consuming initial in-person visits to the embassy or other consular offices in the country.
The move follows the resumption of direct flights between India and China in October after a five-year suspension. While the world’s two most populous nations remain strategic rivals competing for regional influence, relations have gradually thawed since a deadly Himalayan border clash in 2020, the scmp.com report cited analysts as saying.
“Generally speaking, China is relaxing its visa controls, and for China-India the megatrend is to have more engagement with each other,” Victor Gao, vice-president of the Beijing-based think tank Centre for China and Globalisation has said. “Granting more flexibility to Indians to visit China … would be highly appreciated.”
However, the reality is that the simpler visa policy could help China grab a bigger slice of India’s lucrative outbound travel market, which was worth US$21.6 billion last year and is predicted to balloon to US$61.7 billion by 2033, the report said, citing a report by Indian research firm MarketsandMarkets.
The report continued, citing travel industry platform India Outbound, that Indian tourism to China was growing fast before 2020, with 142,000 Indian nationals visiting the country in 2019, a 19% increase from the previous year. But travel then cratered amid the pandemic and growing political tensions.
Travellers from India would be more likely to visit China once they could file visa applications “faster”, Pradip Putatunda, president of the Indian Recreation Club in Hong Kong, has said.
Meanwhile, at the Global Times Annual Conference 2026 under the theme of “Trust in China: New Journey, New Opportunities,” held in Beijing on Dec 20, Hu Shisheng, Deputy Secretary-General of Academic Committee at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said China-India ties have emerged from a downturn, with close high-level exchanges, signalling a positive trend in bilateral relations, according to the globaltimes.cn report.
However, India has given a nuanced assessment of the bilateral ties. The newindianexpress.com report said Jaishankar’s reference to managing ties with China pointed to a challenge that is both structural and immediate. India’s relationship with China is shaped by an unresolved boundary dispute, periodic military tensions along the Line of Actual Control and a broader strategic rivalry in Asia. Even as both sides seek to prevent escalation and maintain a degree of stability, trust remains fragile.
China’s growing economic weight, technological ambitions and assertive regional posture add further complexity. For India, managing China is not only about border management but also about reducing vulnerabilities in trade and supply chains, responding to Beijing’s influence in South Asia and the Indian Ocean, and navigating competition without closing the door on limited cooperation where interests overlap, Jaishankar has said.