After India Flags 'Unscientific' Approach, China Says Entry Measures Do Not Target Indians

New Delhi: After Indian envoy criticised China’s post-COVID travel policy for Indian nationals as “unscientific”, the Chinese foreign ministry on Monday bristled that its “scientific, professional and appropriate” rules apply to all inbound travellers and did not target India.

At a track-2 virtual dialogue last week, Indian ambassador to China Vikram Misri had mentioned that Beijing had still to take a “more balanced and sensitive approach” on facilitating the movement of students, businessperson and stranded family members in India over the last year and a half.

He had stated that while India had continued to give visas to Chinese businesspersons by insulating the trade and commercial relationship, Beijing was not taking a similar view. “However, we are disappointed to see an unscientific approach with regard to several problems currently being faced by Indian students, businessmen, marine crew and exporters, to name a few,” he had alleged.

During the media briefing on Monday, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said that Chinese “prevention and control measures are scientific, professional and appropriate”.

On the visa issue, she said that China’s COVID-19 control measures “are not targeting India, but applied to everyone”. “China applies entry measures equally to all inbound travellers, including its own citizens,” added the spokesperson.

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China was “willing to work with all countries, India included” to make proper arrangements for exchanges of personnel in context of COVID-19, she said. “We will make timely adjustments and proper arrangements in light of the changing situation and needs”.

More than 25,000 Indian students admitted to Chinese universities are waiting to return to China.

During the briefing, she slammed the the first-ever in-person ‘Quad’ summit in Washington, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“We are following the in-person Quad summit held by the US, Japan, India and Australia. For some time, these countries have been keen on insinuating China with the so-called "rules-based order", playing up and inciting the so-called "China threat" theory, and driving a wedge between regional countries and China,” Hua stated.

She claimed that China could not be accused of disrupting of world order, while the US wants a system in which it “wantonly defies, coerces and interferes with other countries without paying a price”.

“Relevant countries should abandon the outdated Cold War zero-sum mentality and ideological bias, stop forming closed and exclusive "cliques", and do more to promote solidarity and cooperation among countries in the region as well as regional peace and stability,” she said.

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