MEA raises issue of Indian Medical students being unable to return to China to resume studies

New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday said that it has been regularly raising the issue of Indian students pursuing medicine from Chinese Universities being unable to return to China to attend classes, but has not got any positive response from the other side.

The remarks were made by MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in response to questions citing reports according to which China is facilitating the return of students from countries like Sri Lanka.

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"I have seen some reports, but I don't want to speculate here that some students are going back. We are concerned about students in India and on that, we don't have any movement yet... so if the Chinese are looking at options on how they can get students in, I sincerely hope, that Indian students would also benefit from that mechanism," Bagchi said.

"As regards the issue of students, yes, this is something which has come up a couple of times. We have discussed, I think even on this forum we have responded. During the visit of Chinese FM Wang Yi, I think the EAM himself mentioned that we had taken it up," the MEA spokesperson said.

Talking further on the interaction between India and China on the issue, Bagchi said that they understand the students' "pain", however, the Chinese side has not responded to India's requests.

"We understand their (students') pain. They are here. They came a long time ago, they need to complete classes, they are doing online. This is exactly what we have been sharing with the Chinese side, saying look, on a humanitarian (ground), they need to look at this and find a mechanism... find a solution to this. But, as I said, they haven't yet done so. If they have done so for other countries, maybe they can do that for our students also, but I don't have a positive answer yet," the MEA spokesperson said.

Indian students enrolled in Chinese Universities have not been able to attend their classes physically, with the Chinese authorities not issuing visas citing COVID-19 restrictions.

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