China agrees to let Indian pilgrims visit Tibet this summer

China's foreign ministry announced on Monday that Indian pilgrims would be able to travel to holy sites in Tibet for the first time in five years this summer, in the latest sign of warming relations between the two regional superpower.

Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar in China's Tibet region are important in many religions, including Tibetan Buddhism and Hinduism, but Indian pilgrims had been unable to cross the border since 2020 owing to the COVID pandemic and geopolitical tension between the two countries.

"The pilgrimage of Indian devotees to the sacred mountains and lakes in Tibet is an important part of cultural exchange between China and India," Guo Jiakun, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson told a regular press conference, while announcing the resumption of the annual event that usually runs from June to September.

"China is willing to work with India to earnestly implement the important consensus reached by the two countries' leaders," he added, referring to a meeting last October between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that ended a five-year break in leader-to-leader meetings.

Relations between India and China soured in the wake of a 2020 clash between troops along their border in the Himalayas, which killed at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese.

But several high-level meetings have taken place since Xi and Modi met last year.

In December, China and India reached a six-point consensus on their border during a meeting in Beijing in which they also agreed to promote the resumption of Indian pilgrims' visits to Tibet.

And in January, the two countries agreed to work on resolving trade and economic differences and to resume direct air services, following a visit by India's foreign secretary to Beijing.