Resumption of India-China flights a positive measure to promote friendly ties: Beijing

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China on Friday said it is willing to view its relations with India from a strategic and long-term perspective, adding the resumption of flights between the two countries from Sunday is a positive measure to promote friendly exchanges between the 2.8 billion people.

India had announced on October 2 that direct flights to China would resume from October 26.

Following this, IndiGo said that it will resume flights from Kolkata to Guangzhou, starting October 26, and from Delhi to Guangzhou, starting November 10, 2025.

Chinese airline China Eastern announced that it will resume flight operations from Shanghai to Delhi starting November 9.

Asked about the resumption of flights between the two countries from Sunday after a five-year break, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a media briefing here that it is the latest progress in implementing the understanding reached between the two countries.

It is also a positive measure to facilitate friendly exchanges between more than 2.8 billion people of China and India, he said.

China is willing to work with India to view and handle China-India relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, promote the continued healthy and stable development of bilateral relations, better benefit the two countries and their peoples, and make due contributions to maintaining peace and prosperity in Asia and the world, he said.

The flight services between the two sides were suspended following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. They were not restored in view of the over-four-year border face-off in eastern Ladakh, which ended in October last year.

In his remarks during the Tianjin meeting with President Xi on August 31, Prime Minister Modi had stated that the resumption of direct flights was under consideration.

India-China relations plunged to their lowest point since the 1962 war following the Galwan Valley clashes in June 2020. After a series of diplomatic and military talks, the two sides withdrew their troops from several friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

In October last year, the two sides firmed up a disengagement pact for Depsang and Demchok, the last two friction points.

Days after the agreement was finalised, Modi and Xi held talks in Kazan and took a number of decisions to improve the ties.

In the last few months, the two sides have taken a series of measures to repair the ties, including the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.