Chinese army veteran gets visa to visit his family in India

An 80-year-old Chinese army veteran, who was captured on the Indian side of the border in 1963 and later returned to China, has been granted visa to visit his Indian wife and children, officials here said on Wednesday.

Wang Qi, said to be a surveyor of the People's Liberation Army, (PLA) was caught when he entered Indian territory shortly after the China-India war in 1962.

Convicted for spying, Qi was in Indian jails for six years.

After his release from prison, Qi settled in Tirodi village of Balaghat district in Madhya Pradesh where he married a local woman and had four children.

Since then, Qi has made three more visits to China.

His last visit to China was in October 2018 and he was unable to return to India due to no Indian visa, his son Vishnu Wang, 38, had said.

"My father applied for visa with the Indian embassy in Beijing in April this year but was unable to get the same for reasons better known to the authorities," Vishnu had told PTI from Tirodi.

However, Indian officials here on Wednesday confirmed that Qi has been given his visa to visit India.