India: nearly forty sailors stranded for months in China have been repatriated
View of New Delhi, November 9, 2020. AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
In India, 39 sailors will be able to return to their country, after several months stranded in a Chinese port, where they were prisoners on their ship, officially for health reasons.
Many others would be in the same situation.
Publicity
Read more
With our correspondent in Bangalore,
Côme Bastin
Some suffered from depression and others were ill from drinking poor quality water: 39 sailors stranded in the port of Jingtang, near Beijing, are returning to India after intense negotiations between the two countries.
They were spread over two boats that arrived in June and September to carry coal to Australia.
But the Chinese authorities refused them the possibility of unloading their cargo or even of leaving again, citing risks of contamination with Covid-19.
Money change ?
However, many suspect that China is using these sailors as a bargaining chip.
Beijing is in fact in conflict with India
along the Himalayan border
, as well as with
Australia within the framework of trade negotiations.
The Indian Minister of Ports welcomed the repatriation of these citizens.
But some 1,500 sailors, including many Indians, are still stranded in China, according to Australian maritime authorities.
Several Indian airlines say the government asked them to stop accepting Chinese passengers on December 28.
A decision then perceived as retaliation in the cold war between the two countries.
The Minister of Aviation denied having passed these instructions.
► Read also: India-China tensions: five Indian carriers disappear along the border
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
India
China
On the same subject
Border clashes: China and India play appeasement after deadly military shock
India bans new Chinese apps, Beijing upset