06-12-2006, 10:41 PM
Monday, June 12, 2006
India and China to open Himalayan pass after 40 years
By Khalid Hassan
WASHINGTON: India and China are rapidly completing work for reopening the Nathu-la pass after 40 years, a symbol of rapprochement between the two countries since the 1962 war, says a report in the Boston Globe.
The opening of the pass at a height of 14,200 feet will facilitate limited border trade between the northeast Indian state of Sikkim and southern Tibet, a âmodestâ start which âpromises much moreâ.
According to BB Gooroong, adviser to Sikkimâs chief minister, âWe are very much looking forward to the opening of the pass. It is symbolic . . . but we have to break the iceâ.
The Sikkim governmentâs enthusiasm is said to be ânot entirely matchedâ in New Delhi, where the establishment still remembers âbeing caught off guard by Chinaâs sudden advance across the Himalayas in 1962â.
Much of the 2,200-mile common border remains disputed, and Indian officials say they are not yet ready to throw open the doors. Nevertheless a gradual process is under way which could eventually lead to a significant trade route opening up from the Indian port of Kolkata to the Tibetan capital, Lhasa. âThey will go slowly, and there is still some distance before we get full-fledged transit trade. But there is potential.â the news report quotes Indian analyst C Raja Mohan as saying.
A study commissioned by the Sikkim government suggested that trade across Nathu-la could reach US$2.8 billion a year by 2015, a figure that appears âa little fancifulâ today. The Sikkim government has yet to win Delhiâs approval for its plan to build a new, two-lane $500-million highway from Nathu-la to western India, bypassing the Sikkim capital Gangtokâs already congested streets. But pressure is building from China, as it tries to bring economic prosperity and extend political control over its vast, remote and sometimes neglected west. Lhasa lies just 320 miles by road from Nathu-la; Kolkata is a stoneâs throw away compared to Beijing.
The passes between Sikkim and Tibet were once part of the Silk Road.
The Boston Globe report recalls that trade across Nathu-la took off after independence in 1947 and Chinaâs invasion of Tibet in 1950. A decade later, more than 1,000 mules and horses and 700 people took the narrow trail every day. India imported raw wool, animal hide, and yak tails for use in shrines. It sent clothes, petrol, tobacco, soap, watches and even disassembled cars, including one for the Dalai Lama, the other way. Payment came in sacks of Chinese silver dollars. Trade came to an abrupt halt in 1962. Five years later skirmishes at Nathu-la left scores dead on both sides.
The report notes that as India and China rebuilt relations, two minor trade points were opened at the western end of the border in the 1990s, but agreement to open the more significant Nathu-la pass came during then prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayeeâs trip to China in 2003.
China indicated that it was ready to drop its claim to Sikkim, which had merged with India in 1975.
âThat was a very major landmark agreement from the political perspective,â according to one Indian official. âNow it is the economic side which will come into play.â
There is also the prospect of tourist traffic one day crossing Nathu-la. Officials hope that Sikkim could eventually be the centre of an international Buddhist pilgrimage circuit, from Tibet to Thailand and India to Nepal.
India and China to open Himalayan pass after 40 years
By Khalid Hassan
WASHINGTON: India and China are rapidly completing work for reopening the Nathu-la pass after 40 years, a symbol of rapprochement between the two countries since the 1962 war, says a report in the Boston Globe.
The opening of the pass at a height of 14,200 feet will facilitate limited border trade between the northeast Indian state of Sikkim and southern Tibet, a âmodestâ start which âpromises much moreâ.
According to BB Gooroong, adviser to Sikkimâs chief minister, âWe are very much looking forward to the opening of the pass. It is symbolic . . . but we have to break the iceâ.
The Sikkim governmentâs enthusiasm is said to be ânot entirely matchedâ in New Delhi, where the establishment still remembers âbeing caught off guard by Chinaâs sudden advance across the Himalayas in 1962â.
Much of the 2,200-mile common border remains disputed, and Indian officials say they are not yet ready to throw open the doors. Nevertheless a gradual process is under way which could eventually lead to a significant trade route opening up from the Indian port of Kolkata to the Tibetan capital, Lhasa. âThey will go slowly, and there is still some distance before we get full-fledged transit trade. But there is potential.â the news report quotes Indian analyst C Raja Mohan as saying.
A study commissioned by the Sikkim government suggested that trade across Nathu-la could reach US$2.8 billion a year by 2015, a figure that appears âa little fancifulâ today. The Sikkim government has yet to win Delhiâs approval for its plan to build a new, two-lane $500-million highway from Nathu-la to western India, bypassing the Sikkim capital Gangtokâs already congested streets. But pressure is building from China, as it tries to bring economic prosperity and extend political control over its vast, remote and sometimes neglected west. Lhasa lies just 320 miles by road from Nathu-la; Kolkata is a stoneâs throw away compared to Beijing.
The passes between Sikkim and Tibet were once part of the Silk Road.
The Boston Globe report recalls that trade across Nathu-la took off after independence in 1947 and Chinaâs invasion of Tibet in 1950. A decade later, more than 1,000 mules and horses and 700 people took the narrow trail every day. India imported raw wool, animal hide, and yak tails for use in shrines. It sent clothes, petrol, tobacco, soap, watches and even disassembled cars, including one for the Dalai Lama, the other way. Payment came in sacks of Chinese silver dollars. Trade came to an abrupt halt in 1962. Five years later skirmishes at Nathu-la left scores dead on both sides.
The report notes that as India and China rebuilt relations, two minor trade points were opened at the western end of the border in the 1990s, but agreement to open the more significant Nathu-la pass came during then prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayeeâs trip to China in 2003.
China indicated that it was ready to drop its claim to Sikkim, which had merged with India in 1975.
âThat was a very major landmark agreement from the political perspective,â according to one Indian official. âNow it is the economic side which will come into play.â
There is also the prospect of tourist traffic one day crossing Nathu-la. Officials hope that Sikkim could eventually be the centre of an international Buddhist pilgrimage circuit, from Tibet to Thailand and India to Nepal.