On Monday, China's Foreign Ministry declared that China and India are "making relevant preparations" to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra this summer.
Emphasizing the pilgrimage as an "important part" of China-India cultural and people-to-people exchanges, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun emphasized the religious importance of the "sacred mountain and lake" to practitioners of several religions, including Tibetan Buddhism and Hinduism.
"The pilgrimage will pick up again in the summer under the understanding reached between India and China, and both sides are actively working towards it," Guo said at a regular news briefing in Beijing.
The 75th anniversary of this diplomatic relationship this year, Guo further said, "China is willing to cooperate with India on seriously following up on major common understandings reached by leaders of the two countries, and pushing China-India relations onto an even more robust, healthy track."
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) recently declared that the long-awaited Yatra would be undertaken from June to August this year.
As per an MEA release published on Saturday, "This year, five batches of 50 pilgrims each, and ten batches of 50 pilgrims each, will pass through Uttarakhand via Lipulekh Pass and through Sikkim via Nathu La Pass."
The release also added that the pilgrims can even use the website, kmy.gov.in, for application. A "fair, computer-generated, random and gender-balanced" method will be used to select the pilgrims.
From 2015 onwards, the entire process of selection from online application to final selection of successful Yatris is computerized.
The MEA explained that it is not necessary that people fax or send letters and that the website provides avenues for feedback for suggestions, questions, or improvements.
India and China have been working out the technicalities of restarting the Yatra since the start of this year.
Kailash Mansarovar Yatra had remained suspended since 2020 following the Covid-19 pandemic and suspension of Yatra arrangements by China. The Yatra has since 1981 been arranged by the Indian government via the Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand and, since 2015, via the Nathu La Pass in Sikkim.
In a January meeting conducted through the Foreign Secretary-Vice Foreign Minister mechanism, the two countries reaffirmed that they would resume the Yatra in summer 2025.
This session, chaired by Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, was aimed at assessing the state of bilateral relations and saw concurrences on human-oriented initiatives to stabilize the relationship, as agreed during the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet in Kazan in October 2024.
In addition, the two nations mutually accepted in principle to restore direct flights between the two nations, and technical representatives of both nations were to finalize an agreement for the same.
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