Mirage seen after an increase in the temperature levels at Kartavya Path, on June 11, 2023 in New Delhi, India. Photo: VCG

The rift between China and India over the issuance of visas for journalists continued after Indian authorities refused to review and approve applications for Chinese reporters to work in the country. The number of Chinese journalists in India has dropped from a previous 14 to one.

The Global Times spoke to Chinese journalists who had worked in India for years, and learned how India has treated Chinese media outlets in an unfair and even discriminatory manner. 

Analysts and journalists also called on India to correct its wrong actions and work with China to settle visa issues as journalism is an important form of people-to-people exchanges and leaving the problem unsolved does no good to India-China relations. 

Long-standing problems 

Yuan Jirong, a People's Daily reporter who has been stationed in India from June 2016 for three and a half years, said that the difficulty for Chinese journalists to obtain a visa in India started from the beginning - it usually takes six to 12 months to apply for a visa, and that successful applications come with only short validity periods.

The process for visa renewal is complicated and time-consuming. Yuan said that the first visa he got for India was valid for three months, and to renew it, he needed to prepare a large quantity of material including the certificate of appointment letter, diplomatic note from the Chinese Embassy in India, tenancy agreement, the photo of his passport. All these also need to be altered in accordance with local formatting requirements and it is usually not easy to finish the online application form due to the design of the software. 

After submitting all the materials online, Yuan said they also need to be submitted offline to the new agency affiliated to India's Ministry of External Affairs and the visa was also given on the last expiration date. Chinese journalists need to go through this protracted process every three months to ensure visa renewal. 

Some Chinese reporters are issued visas valid for less than one month, or merely 15 days on seven consecutive times during their five-year posting in India, the Global Times has learned. 

Chinese journalists also live with uncertainty of their application being declined, Yuan said, noting that the first month he arrived in India, local authorities refused to renew visas for three journalists from the Xinhua News Agency, forcing them to leave the country. 

Compared to many Chinese correspondents, Hu Bofeng, a reporter from the People's Daily, who first arrived in the country in July 2018, seemed to be "lucky" as it took less than two months for him to get a visa with one-year validity.

China-India relations were experiencing resurgence in 2018-19 as relations emerged from the shadow of the 2017 Doklam standoff along the border with top leaders holding meetings in China's Wuhan in April 2018 and in Chennai in India in October 2019.

This has injected new political new political impetus for bilateral relations, according to Hu, noting that all these factors had contributed to the "record speed" for him to get the visa.

But the luck did not continue when he went to renew his visa. In September 2019, India requested Chinese journalists renew their visa on a monthly basis. 

The change has created significant inconvenience for Chinese correspondents working in the country. Aside from repeating the arduous application process every month, they also had to renew their public service with the visa renewal once a month. 

"Our residence permits, bank cards, driving licenses and phone cards… all aspects of daily life are linked to the visa… once we fail to get the visa renewal, these services would be suspended," said Hu. 

It was only after March 2020 when the outbreak of COVID-19 in India caused the borders to shut and meant visa validity for Chinese journalists was prolonged from one month to three months. 

Some Chinese correspondents were even expelled by India seemingly without any formal reason. In November 2021, a reporter from the Xinhua News Agency, who was spending holiday in China, received an email from India External Affairs, informing him that he should not return to India following his holiday, and if he did return to the country, he would be required to permanently depart within a short space of time.  The reporter had to rush back to India to hand over the work to colleagues and returned to China within 10 days. 

Some Chinese reporters said that they have discussed the inconvenience of the short visa period with India officials, but received no clear explanation. 

Hu called India's treatment of Chinese reporters "uncomfortably legitimate" but unfair. "Journalists are also a bridge for bilateral relations and India's treatment toward Chinese reporters is not good to help improve understanding between the two countries to dismiss misinformation," said Hu.

Different from India, China treats Indian journalists in a fair way. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a press conference in April that Indian journalists stationed in China all hold residence permit valid for one year, during which they can enter and exit from China multiple times and their lawful rights of interview and reporting are fully protected.

Journalists from the PTI and the Hindustan Times have been stationed in China for over 10 years. Over the years, China has actively communicated with India with restraint and goodwill. The Chinese Embassy in India expressed concerns on Chinese journalists' visas. Regrettably, however, India ignored this and even went further down the wrong path, said Mao.

Given India's unfair and discriminatory treatment of Chinese journalists, China has no choice but to take appropriate countermeasures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese media organizations, said the spokesperson. 

Calling for settlement 

India's expulsion of Chinese journalists under the tenuous guise of refusing their visas is the result of the deterioration of China-India relations due to border conflicts over recent years. A few years ago, India restricted Chinese journalists on work visas, but it has acted more unreasonably and absurd recently, Ma Jiali, director of the Center for Strategic Studies at China Reform Forum, told the Global Times. 

Ma said that the "over politicization" tendency of Indian society has led to the country restricting foreign media, but because India has an emotional grudge against China, they would treat Chinese media more "strictly." 

Ma said that media is an important channel for bilateral communication and any two major countries should have reporters of the other side. It is extremely "abnormal" and "unhealthy" for India to expel Chinese journalists due to tensions in bilateral relations and such move will not provide India any advantage in dealing with China issues, but will bring more negative impacts on China-Indian relations due to communication obstacles.

The purpose of two countries sending journalists back and forth is to gain a more objective and detailed understanding of the local situation, which can be used by policy makers in their own countries for reference. India's move is tantamount to "self-destructing its eyes and ears," Liu Zongyi, secretary-general of the Research Center for China-South Asia Cooperation at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told the Global Times. 

Liu said that India's expelling of Chinese reporters is to cut off its own information channels, increase the risk of misjudgment when handling the relationship and creating obstacles for healthy development of two-way relations.

Moreover, some Chinese scholars' visa application to India has also been refused by India after the relaxing for pandemic related visa restrictions. Indian officials may not want Chinese scholars to appear in India before the G20 summit, especially to participate in some G20 meetings, said the experts.  

Both analysts and journalists reached by the Global Times called for India to correct its unfair and discriminatory actions on Chinese journalists before it further affects people-to-people exchanges and bilateral relations. 

At a press conference on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin also called for India to meet China half way to take concrete steps and effectively review and approve visas for Chinese journalists as soon as possible.

Wang noted that media outlets are important bridges for mutual understanding and friendly relations and China stands ready to maintain communication with India under the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.

The spokesperson also called India to scrap undue restrictions on Chinese journalists, and create conditions for resuming normal exchange between Chinese and Indian media.