Stranded Indian expats weigh China return amid Covid-19, border backlash

Name: Global coronavirus cases surpass 25 million as India deals with world’s fastest-growing outbreak
Uploaded: 2020-09-02T01:00:11.000Z
Duration: 2 min 7 s
Description: Global coronavirus cases surpass 25 million as India deals with world’s fastest-growing outbreak

Thousands of Indians have been unable to return to their jobs – and in some cases, families – in China after being locked out by coronavirus restrictions

However, even as China opens back up, the pandemic and deteriorating bilateral relations mean some are weighing their options or postponing a return

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An Indian schoolgirl wears a mask depicting Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Chennai in 2019. Photo: AP

Rajni George

Published: 9:00am, 2 Sep 2020Updated: 10:03pm, 2 Sep 2020

Indian businessman Tapan Gadodia has been unable to return to China, where his import-export company is based, since late January, when he left for his native country to escape what was then the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic.

Like thousands of other expatriate Indians returning for the Lunar New Year holiday, fleeing the disease – or both – he found himself stranded in his home country in late March, as India closed its borders and China suspended the entry of foreign workers and residents to prevent the pandemic’s spread.

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Global coronavirus cases surpass 25 million as India deals with world’s fastest-growing outbreak

Eight months later, the tables have turned. China has largely brought the outbreak under control; it is now India that is recording more daily cases, at up to 80,000, than anywhere else. Indeed, while India has a similar population to China, about 1.3 billion, it has now registered more than 3.6 million cases and over 65,000 deaths, compared to 85,000 cases and just over 4,600 deaths in China.

Even so, as China takes further steps towards opening up – sources say about 60 people with diplomatic visas were scheduled to leave Delhi for Shanghai on Wednesday – Gadodia, like many others, is not certain if he wants to return just yet.

Indian businessman Tapan Gadodia with his mother Kanta and son Karan in Shanghai during Diwali 2019. Photo: Handout

“A few of my Indian friends in Shanghai lost their parents and could not even attend their funeral,” recalls Gadodia, 50, of compatriots who had chosen to stay in China when the coronavirus first emerged.