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India, China likely to resume direct flights
The latest indications of the thaw in bilateral relations come ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s expected visit to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit on August 31.
New Delhi India and China are in advanced negotiations on resuming direct flights and trade through selected border posts as part of efforts to normalise their relations after the end of the four-year military standoff on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
There has also been “forward movement” on restrictions imposed by China on fertiliser exports to India, the people said on condition of anonymity. The latest indications of the thaw in bilateral relations come ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s expected visit to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit on August 31.
The resumption of direct flights and border trade – both suspended since 2020 – figured in several meetings held since Modi and President Xi Jinping met in the Russian city of Kazan on October 23, 2024, two days after an understanding to end the faceoff on the LAC, and decided to revive several mechanisms to normalise relations and address the border dispute.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar raised China’s restrictions on fertiliser exports when he met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing last month, the people said. At the time, Jaishankar said the two sides should build on “good progress” in normalising ties by avoiding “restrictive trade measures” and addressing issues related to the border.
The modalities for resuming direct flights, including the finalisation of an updated air services agreement, are yet to be completed, though Indian carriers have been asked by authorities to begin preparing to fly to China as early as next month, the people said. One option being considered is the resumption of flights without updating the air services agreement, they said.
Authorities have asked IndiGo to start preparing for flights, hinting at the resumption of air connectivity with China, at least two officials with knowledge of the development said. “In an internal communication, the ministry of civil aviation asked IndiGo to start making arrangements for resuming India-China flights,” one of the officials said.
However, the people acknowledged that lack of adequate aircraft is a factor that is being considered by Indian authorities.
Non-stop flights to China stopped during the Covid-19 pandemic and this continued after border skirmishes between Indian and Chinese troops in April-May 2020 took bilateral ties to a six-decade low. Both sides arrayed close to 50,000 troops each in Ladakh sector of the LAC before the understanding last October on disengagement of forces at the two remaining “friction points” of Demchok and Depsang.
Before this, Air India, IndiGo, Air China, China Southern and China Eastern operated direct flights. IndiGo and Air India didn’t comment on the development, and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The resumption of border trade through the designated points of Lipulekh pass in Uttarakhand, Shipki La in Himachal Pradesh and Nathu La in Sikkim figured in recent meetings between the two sides, the people said. Trade through these routes was stopped in 2020. Minister of state for external affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh told Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question last week that India has “engaged with the Chinese side to facilitate the resumption of border trade through all these trade routes”.
On the issue of China’s restriction on fertiliser exports, the people said there had been “forward movement” since the matter was raised by Jaishankar with his Chinese counterpart in mid-July. Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that India, the world’s top importer of fertilisers, could take as much as 300,000 tons of urea.
Almost half of China’s fertiliser exports in 2023 headed to India, but it halted sales to all countries last year. Beijing relaxed the ban in June but kept its restrictions on India until now. India’s imports of urea from China fell to about 100,000 tonnes in 2024-25, compared to 1.87 million tonnes a year ago, according to the Fertiliser Association of India. Last month, India finalised long-term agreements with Saudi Arabia for 3.1 million metric tonnes of DAP fertiliser per annum for five years to cope with the restrictions imposed by China. Di-ammonium phosphate or DAP is the second most widely used crop nutrient in India.
There was no official word from the Indian and Chinese side on these developments, which coincided with substantial strain in India’s relations with the US after President Donald Trump imposed a reciprocal tariff of 25% on Indian goods and a punitive tariff of 25% for purchases of Russian crude.
The Indian side has proceeded cautiously in normalising relations with China, with the two sides agreeing in April to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra to the Tibet region for the first time since 2020, and India resuming tourist visas for Chinese nationals in July after a five-year gap.
Efforts to normalise relations, however, hit a bump over China’s support to Pakistan during four days of hostilities with India in May after New Delhi launched Operation Sindoor to target terrorist infrastructure across the border in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians in April.
