A Chinese surveyor of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), who made headlines in 2017 following his return to China after 54 years in India, has finally received a visa after a long wait to revisit his family in Madhya Pradesh.
Wang, 80, had applied for a visa in April to visit his family in Tirodi village, a f ive-hour drive from Nagpur, in Madhya Pradesh. It finally came through earlier this week.
In 2017, Wang was accompanied by son, Vishnu Wang, daughter, Anita Wankhede, daughter-in-law, Neha Wang, and granddaughter, Khanak Wang, when he returned to China.
The same year, he had travelled back to Tirodi to be beside his ailing wife, who passed away soon after.
However, unlike in 2017 and 2018, when he received multiple entry visas to visit India in about a week, this time the wait was long at nearly five months.
Wang Qi was captured in India after he crossed the border in 1963.
After his release from jail in 1969, Wang married an Indian woman and had four children.
Wang’s status as a prisoner of war was never clear and although authorities in India were aware of his case, he never made his way back to China.
In 2017, he was able to return to his hometown in Shaanxi province with a passport issued by the Chinese embassy in New Delhi in 2013.
Wang told HT from Xianyang city in northwest China’s Shaanxi province on Wednesday that a relative had received a call from the Indian embassy in Beijing that his new India visa had come through.
“I missed my family and friends in India very much. I don’t know why the Indian embassy in Beijing delayed my visa so long,” Wang said from Xianyang, adding that he wants to ask officials about the delay.
Wang has been staying in a hotel in Xianyang and came to Beijing thrice since April but went back disappointed each time.
“Once I receive the visa, I will book my ticket immediately,” Wang said.
My father applied for visa on April 17 at the Indian embassy in Beijing,” his son, Vishnu Wang, told HT from Tirodi.
A few weeks after submitting his application form for a visa, Wang was told there were mistakes in the form, and that he should apply again for an electronic visa. In July, according to Vishnu, that application was rejected as well. Wang had to resubmit the application in July. Several emails and phone calls to the embassy didn’t help.
The reason for the delay was never made clear to him. Vishnu said the family, especially the three grandchildren, were waiting to see Wang after a long gap.