NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, MARCH 6
Japan has issued a demarche to India asking it to review its decision to cancel all e-visas to Japanese nationals. Apparently upset that it has been clubbed with countries like Iran, Italy, and South Korea, Japan has conveyed to India that a blanket ban on visas is going to hurt economic engagement with India including work on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train which has a 2023 deadline.
Japan has also asked India to at least not block visas for Japanese engineers and other workers directly involved in bullet train work. It is learnt that Japanese authorities are trying to approach both health minister Harsh Vardhan and foreign minister S Jaishankar to emphasise before them the need to take an “objective” view of the situation, The Times of India reported.
India has cancelled all e-visas for nationals of Japan, South Korea, Italy and Iran as it works to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Japan though has told Indian authorities that while South Korea had 5,328 cases of infection, Italy 2,502 and Iran 2,336, Japan only was dealing with 284 such cases as of March 4, 2020, as per WHO. Japan also last week helped India evacuate 119 Indian nationals who were on board the Covid-19 infected Diamond Princess cruise ship.
Indian government sources said they were working to address concerns raised by Japan. “Their people are worried that if they step out of the country, they won’t be allowed to return. But as we have said, they can still apply for visas with the Indian mission,” said a source.
There are more than 1,400 Japanese companies active in India. Japan also wants India to consider the cases involving family members of Japanese workers as they are unable to visit Japan for the fear of not being able to return to India.
While India has said that Japanese nationals can still seek a visa from the embassy in Tokyo, it seems easier said than done. “There’s effectively a ban on all visas as the visa officials are reluctant to issue any visa keeping in mind the coronavirus scare,” said a source who didn’t want to be quoted.
The visa ban has come as a surprise to Japanese authorities as India otherwise looks at Japan as perhaps the most important partner for its economic transformation. As the MEA says, Japanese ODA supports India’s efforts for accelerated economic development particularly in priority areas like power, transportation, environmental projects and projects related to basic human needs.
