India will resume issuing tourist visas to Chinese nationals after a five-year gap, starting July 24, Reuters quoted the Indian embassy in Beijing as saying on Wednesday.

Chinese state-run news outlet Global Times shared a post made by the Indian Embassy in China on Weibo that outlines guidelines for Chinese nationals seeking to apply for a tourist visa.

In February 2020, India had suspended all tourist visas in view of the coronavirus pandemic. China had also suspended visas to Indian citizens and other foreigners during the pandemic, but these restrictions were lifted in 2022 for students and business travellers.

In June 2020, border tensions between India and China escalated when a violent face-off between Indian and Chinese soldiers took place in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley along the Line of Actual Control. It led to the death of 20 Indian soldiers. Beijing said that the clash left four of its soldiers dead.

In response, India imposed several restrictions on China including banning hundreds of popular Chinese apps and suspending passenger routes, Reuters reported.

While China allowed students and business travellers in 2022, Indians were not allowed to apply for tourist visas until March this year, when both countries announced that they would resume direct air services, Reuters reported.

Since the Galwan clashes, China and India have held several rounds of military and diplomatic talks to resolve their border standoff.

In October, the two countries announced that they had reached a patrolling arrangement along the Line of Actual Control, “leading to the disengagement” of the two militaries in eastern Ladakh.

The agreement came two days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan. This was the first formal meeting of the two leaders since the military standoff began in mid-2020.

In January, the two countries agreed to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra this summer, restore direct flights and ease visa restrictions after Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong in Beijing.

In July, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said during a meeting with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng that relations between both countries were “steadily improving” and called for the continued normalisation of the bilateral ties.