China has issued a travel warning for its nationals who plan to or are visiting India. The travel advisory comes after the controversial Doklam standoff, as the authorities have warned the Chinese citizens about incidents of denials of visas to visit "restricted areas" like the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The Chinese Embassy in India issued the third travel advisory in four months for Chinese tourists in India.
The state-run Global Times on Thursday reported that the warning was posted on the embassy's website on Tuesday and mentioned several instances where the embassy had to recently intervene when some Chinese tourists were denied entry or were investigated while travelling to India.
"Some Chinese citizens visited Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which are restricted areas for foreigners, without gaining permits from India. Some tourists were asked to return upon arrival. Some were even arrested or investigated," the statement read.
"(Visitors should) not photograph India's border and military facilities and vehicles. While travelling on India's border neighbouring Nepal, avoid visiting border markets, and do not enter the territory of other countries by mistake," it added.
Tensions between India and China escalated in June after Indian soldiers stopped Chinese troops from constructing a road in the uninhabited territory of Doklam, which is claimed by both Bhutan and China. This resulted in a months-long standoff between the troops of both the nations at India's Sikkim border, where both sides told each other to withdraw from the region.
The standoff finally came to an end last month, when the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said the countries had decided to pull back their troops from the border. China, however, stated that it would continue to patrol the Doklam region
Chinese tourists comprise three percent of foreign tourists visiting India every year, the Global Times quoted Indian media reports as saying. Nearly 1,19,000 visitors from China visited India from January to May 2017.
