China had recently allowed the return of students from many other countries including Pakistan, but the Chinese authorities did not make any announcement regarding the return of Indian students. In response to a question regarding this, the Minister of State for External Affairs said in the Lok Sabha that the Government of India is in talks with the Indian Embassy in Beijing and Chinese officials in Delhi on this. Let us tell you, thousands of Indian students have not been able to return to China for more than two years due to Beijing's COVID-19 restrictions. Taking up the issue of return of students. Muraleedharan said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had raised the issue with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during their meetings on March 25 and July 7. During the conversation, he had emphasized the need to start the return process for the early return of the students to China.
The Minister of State for External Affairs said that the Chinese government had banned international flights from 28 March 2020 with the suspension of visas and residence permits. Let us tell you that there are more than 23,000 Indian students studying in China. Most of them are medical students, who had returned to India due to COVID-19 and visa restrictions.
At the same time, many of these students had demanded the Indian government to return to China to continue their studies in China. V Muraleedharan told the minister that the Chinese embassy had issued a notice last month on June 13, updating its visa policy for Indian nationals. But these policies were not applicable to the students.