🔗 Share this article

The Indian government has declared that direct flights between India and China will resume in October, marking a further move towards the gradual normalization of bilateral ties.

Non-stop services were suspended between the two nations since the year 2020, following deadly troop clashes along their shared Himalayan border.

Yet over the recent period, Delhi and Beijing have been striving for re-building ties, including taking measures to de-escalate tensions.

On the past Thursday, IndiGo announced that it would restart non-stop services between the cities of the capital of West Bengal and Guangzhou from October 26.

In a press release issued on Thursday, India's foreign ministry said that the resumption of flights would "further facilitate cultural and personal exchanges" between the nations and contribute towards "gradual normalization of bilateral exchanges."

The two Asian powers share an disputed boundary that is more than 2,100 miles long and have competing sovereignty demands.

In 2020, soldiers from both sides fought at the Galwan Valley, leaving at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese military personnel dead.

It was the initial deadly clash between the both nations since the mid-1970s and led to a deterioration in relations.

But over the recent months, Beijing and Delhi have been taking steps to slowly mend the strained rapport.

Senior diplomats from the both countries have held numerous dialogues and engagements.

In October last year, India and China agreed on patrolling arrangements to de-escalate tensions along the contentious frontier in the Himalayas.

In the current year, the Chinese government began allowing religious travelers from India to visit some holy locations in what it calls the Tibet region, while India restarted tourist visa facilities to visitors from China and agreed to restart negotiations to open cross-frontier commerce through specific routes.

The Indian government's souring relationship with the United States over punishing tariffs has also acted as a catalyst to India-China relations.

In the month of August, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Delhi, where he said that India and China should see each other as "allies" rather than "rivals."

Subsequently in August, Beijing's envoy to New Delhi labeled the United States a "intimidator" for levying trade barriers on India and other countries.

In August, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the People's Republic for the first visit since 2017 for the SCO defence summit, where he also met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the margins of the event, and the two re-iterated their commitment towards normalising India-China ties.