'Helping Chinese soldier return would enhance Sino-India ties'

Beijing: Helping the Chinese soldier, who has been stuck in India for over five decades, to return home will enhance mutual understanding and contribute to warming of bilateral ties, state-run media here said on Friday.

Indian and Chinese officials should give priority to enable Wang Qi, 77, who currently lives in a village in Madhya Pradesh, to return to China and reunite with his family, an op-ed article in state-run Global Times said.

"Although it's unclear whether Wang is a prisoner of war, it is inhumane to have isolated the elderly man from his family for such a long time," the article said, referring to a BBC feature on him recently, which the daily said caused a stir among Chinese netizens.

"Wang's story caused quite a stir on China's social media and appeals are rising that the man should be helped back home as soon as possible. There is also speculation that India is deliberately making it difficult for Wang, blocking him from returning to China," it said.

Though his story has been published in the Indian media in the past this is the first time Chinese official media has highlighted his plight.

The Global Times article made no mention about Wang's marriage to local Indian woman who is worried whether he would return if he goes to China.

Wang has lived with her lived in the village with children and grand children.

"The Indian authorities should give their utmost attention to this case, actively communicating with the Chinese Embassy and improving administrative efficiency in processing this case, while the Chinese side should cooperate to provide the necessary documents pertaining to Wang that India requires," the article said.

"If properly handled and solved, the case will help enhance mutual understanding of the public of both countries, contributing to further warming (of) bilateral ties," it said.

Wang was issued a Chinese passport by the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi in 2013 and applied for permission to travel to China in 2014, but since then Wang's quest has been lost in "official procedures" in New Delhi, it said.

"It is high time for the Indian authorities to take the case seriously and process it efficiently. If Wang's hope for a reunion with his family in China is shattered in India's red tape, that will hurt the feelings of a massive number of Chinese netizens," the article said.

The External Affairs Ministry yesterday said it is ascertaining the details of the case involving the Chinese soldier and looking into how best the matter could be handled.

According to reports, Wang Qi was nabbed along India's eastern frontiers in January 1963, weeks after the Indo-Sino war.

Born to a farmer family in Shaanxi with four brothers and two sisters, he studied surveying and joined China's People's Liberation Army in 1960.

Wang told BBC that he was "tasked with building roads for the Chinese Army" and was captured when he "strayed erroneously" inside India's territory in January 1963.