India and China revive Himalayan trade at high-altitude pass

The Nathu La Pass, a remote border trading post connecting India’s Sikkim state with China’s Tibet region at 4,310 metres (14,140 feet) above sea level, reopened to commerce on Saturday for the first time since 2020, South China Morning Post writes.

High in the eastern Himalayas, where yak caravans once carried silk and salt between empires, a border crossing closed by suspicion six years ago is stirring back to life.

For the roughly 600 registered traders in Sikkim who used to depend on this ancient route, the reopening means a livelihood restored. For diplomats and analysts, it reflects a broader recalibration of ties between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

Before its closure following the onset of the pandemic and deadly Galwan Valley clashes of 2020, Nathu La Pass was a conduit for the export of rice, flour, tea, tobacco and copper products from India, with yak tails, wool, raw silk, horses, salt and butter among the goods heading in the other direction.

Trade in those items was the result of an agreement signed in 2006 that reopened Nathu La for the first time since the 1962 India-China war.

But a field study last year by Himalayan researcher Sangay Lachenpa of Shiv Nadar University’s Centre of Excellence for Himalayan Studies found that many of the items listed in that agreement were no longer traded in any real quantities.

A trader from China greets soldiers and media after crossing over to the Indian side of Nathu La Pass, in the northeastern Indian state of Sikkim
Photo: AP

Border trade via Nathu La Pass, which had remained suspended for six years due to Covid-19 pandemic and India-China border tensions, resumed on Saturday, Indian The Sunday Standard reports.

A special inaugural ceremony was held, which was attended by Sikkim’s Commerce & Industries Minister Tshering T Bhutia among others. Calling it a historic day, Bhutia said the resumption of border trade with China was made possible due to the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang.

Border trade through Nathu La will operate from Monday to Thursday and continue until November. The reopening is expected to inject fresh momentum into the local economy by generating business for registered traders, transport operators and other stakeholders dependent on border trade.

At present, there are around 35 tradable items between the two countries. Bhutia said the Sikkim government had already sent a proposal to the Director General of Foreign Trade, seeking the expansion of the list of tradable items.

Under the Nathu La border trade arrangement, the approved categories of goods, including handicrafts, handloom products, traditional religious items, and ready-made garments, can now be imported and exported. This year, 38 registered traders have been issued passes to participate in the cross-border trade.

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