India and China Discuss Resumption of Direct Flights, River Data Sharing

NEW DELHI—Indian Foreign Minister, S. Jaishankar, met his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro on Nov. 18. The two discussed the resumption of direct flights which were suspended during the pandemic and weren’t restarted despite COVID-19 regulations being lifted.
Kailash Mansarovar is a pilgrimage that leads to lake Mansarovar (Mapam Yumtso) and Mount Kailash (Gang Rinpoche) inside Tibet. The lake is considered sacred by Hindus, Tibetans, and others, and is also the origin of several important trans-border rivers, including Brahmaputra, which enters India in Arunachal Pradesh and flows through eastern India before entering Bangladesh. The river is a major cause of flooding in countries downriver that depend on data sharing from China.
The Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage, which includes two official routes for Indians, was halted in 2020. The route through Nepal was opened last year but remained inaccessible for Indians. The river water data sharing has also been a source of much tension between the two countries, as on many earlier occasions it was stopped when border tensions escalated between the two countries.
S.D. Pradhan, former chairman of India’s Joint Intelligence Committee and India’s former Deputy National Security Advisor, told The Epoch Times in a written message that the resumption of direct flights between India and China is linked to broader relations and mutual trust, and difficulties remain.
“The [Line of Actual Control] continues to be tense as de-escalation process is yet to start and there is deficiency in mutual trust. In addition, China tries to create problems in issuing visas to Indians in Arunachal Pradesh and [Jammu and Kashmir],” said Pradhan.
He said it’s in China’s interest to resume flights for the sake of its businessmen and students. Meanwhile, India should stay aware of potential risks.
“Despite our paying a huge amount to China for the data, there were occasions when China did not share data with us while sharing it with Bangladesh,” said Pradhan.
The Indian External Affairs Ministry has credited the new developments to the recent disengagement agreement on Oct. 21 that ended confrontation between the two armies along the Ladakh border, which had developed after the bloody 2020 Galwan conflict.
“As Foreign Minister Wang Yi noted, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a successful meeting in Kazan not long ago,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian during a press conference on Tuesday.
Modi and Xi met formally for the first time since the deadly 2020 conflict during the 16th annual BRICS summit in Kazan on Oct. 23. During their meeting, the leaders announced that their special representatives would meet to find solutions and “explore a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the boundary question,” according to an earlier statement by the Indian External Affairs Ministry.
“China-India relations are now at a new starting point. This serves the fundamental interests of the peoples of the two countries, meets the expectations of Global South countries and is in line with the trend of history,” said Lin.
Meanwhile, Pradhan said the Indian administration should exercise caution when it comes to the Chinese regime.
“Given their record for violating agreements, it should be taken with a grain of salt,” he told The Epoch Times.