China's new rule on visa facilitation of no help for Indians

China yesterday remained evasive on the utility and genuineness of its so-called “facilitating measures” for visa to foreigners in countries which are not using Chinese vaccines.

The Chinese Embassy in New Delhi said on Tuesday, it will start issuing visas to foreigners who need to travel to China but only if they have taken a Chinese-made Covid-19 vaccine. The rule, however, will not make it any easier for Indians to get visas since New Delhi has not approved use of China-made vaccines in the country. The Chinese embassy statement did not specify if Beijing is in talks with New Delhi to make its vaccines available in India. 

China also does not recognize other COVID-19 vaccines. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian reporters on Monday that foreign vaccine producers could file a request with the relevant Chinese authorities for a decision to consider them for international travel. He said on Tuesday that China is making its own facilitation arrangements for those who have inoculated with China’s vaccines.

China said the new rule is a meaningful attempt to facilitate cross border travel after massive inoculation, but this raised more practical questions and its utility rather than facilitation, because people in many countries cannot access Chinese jabs due to regulatory issues. 

It is also not clear whether the new rule



applies to students - the largest chunk of Indians – more than 20,000 students who are waiting for China’s nod for more than a year to return to their universities.

Chinese Embassies in many countries which do not use Chinese vaccines, have issued such notices but did not specify how residents in those countries can get Chinese jabs or whether China approached them to recognize Chinese vaccines. Without these clarifications, these announcements rather sound hollow.

So far, China has not allowed vaccines made in other countries to be used in the country. Moreover, China also remained non-committal on recognizing WHO approved vaccines for international travels like AstraZeneca which India is using. None of the Chinese vaccines have been approved by WHO till now. 

The new provisions come at a time; China has been promoting its vaccine shots across the world specially in emerging economies, amid calls for publishing phase 3 clinical trial data of its vaccines. Experts suggest it looks like an effort by China to increase its vaccine footprint using indirect methods.

It also comes in the backdrop of the United States, India, Australia and Japan announcing an ambitious Vaccine Initiative to distribute vaccines in Asia by enhancing vaccine production by extra 1 billion doses in India by the end of