NEW DELHI: After banning Chinese apps and tweaking FDI rules to keep away Chinese investments, the Centre is now planning to tighten visa rules for Chinese businessmen, students and workers.
From now on, Chinese nationals will be issued visa only after security clearance is obtained, sources said. In another move targeting China, the Railways on Friday announced the cancellation of the tender for manufacturing 44 semi-high speed Vande Bharat Express trains.
“Fresh tender will be floated within a week as per Revised Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) order,” the rail ministry tweeted. The tender, floated last month, had attracted only a Chinese joint venture, CRRC Pioneer Electric, as the foreign player among six participants.
The tender had called firms to bid for the supply of electrical equipment for 44 sets of highspeed Vande Bharat express trains with 16 coaches each. The concerted moves taken by the Centre follow the Union education ministry’s review of ties between Indian and Chinese universities, especially the local chapters of Confucius Institutes.
The agreements between Indian and Chinese institutes are likely to be cut down to size. “Over 50 MoUs signed between Chinese universities and prestigious Indian institutes like IITs, JNU, BHU and others are under the government scanner,” sources said. India has been stepping up the heat on China since the June 15 violent face-off between Indian and Chinese troops along the LAC.
However, some experts feel New Delhi’s aggressive steps to restrict Chinese presence in India could backfire as the number of Indians travelling to China is three times than the Chinese flow to India.
“We should also take into consideration any counter measures from China,” said B R Deepak, chairperson of Centre for Chinese and South Asian Studies at JNU. The latest decisions will only worsen the already frayed ties between New Delhi and Beijing, says Russia-based political analyst Andrew Korybko.