Team News Riveting
A majority of Chinese say they don’t want to visit India, ironically, after they have been banned in the country with the introduction of stricter visa rules.
China had been listed in the “Prior Referral Category countries,” along with 33 countries including Iran, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan, whose nationals cannot be granted multiple-entry tourist visas for a five-year period as a default option.
The home ministry has imposed specific provisions for Chinese people who possess business visas, including reporting to its foreigner registration authorities.
China’s state-run media house conducted an online poll launched on Thursday night and sought people’s mandate on “Is there anyone who wants to visit India.” The media house claimed that 162,000 Chinese netizens picked the answer “No,” while 3,300 said “it depends,” and another 3,300 netizens chose “Yes”.
The volume of the people surveyed was not disclosed and the figure compiled had been reported till Friday afternoon.
The newspaper also reported that India’s move has drawn a lot of attention online, with over 250 million views on Sina Weibo, with many saying India is not an attractive destination to Chinese tourists due to its poor sanitation and chaotic social order.
An Internet user mocked on Twitter-like Weibo that India’s move was actually a protection to Chinese people, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It claimed that domestic COVID-19 infections in India had assumed an alarming proportion.
