China and India settle hostilities to reopen Silk Road pass

[Uiler]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5150682.stm

China and India have opened a historic trade route that had been closed for nearly half a century.

The Himalayan pass of Nathu La, 4,000m (14,000 feet) above sea level, was once part of the ancient Silk Road.

The opening ceremony took place at the windswept border between India's Sikkim state and the Chinese region of Tibet.

Nathu La has opened just a few days after the first train service was launched from eastern China to Tibet.

The pass was given a festive look with Chinese and Indian flags fluttering and military bands playing.

China's ambassador to India and local officials from Sikkim and Tibet attended the opening ceremony at the border post in driving rain and bitter cold.

But the BBC's Subir Bhaumik, who was at the opening, says despite the poor weather conditions there was no shortage of enthusiasm among the hundreds of Indian and Chinese traders who had gathered there.

"We hope the reopening of the silk route will improve relations between the two countries," China's ambassador to India Sun Yuxi told the AFP news agency.

"Today the border is open for traders and we hope very soon it will be open for tourists. We are excited and feeling very good."

The BBC's South Asia correspondent, Navdip Dhariwal, says the reopening of the route signifies a huge leap forward in diplomacy and trade between both countries.

Local traders have welcomed the opening and say it will have a major impact on the regional economy.

"Our lives are going to change once trade gets going," a grocery supplier, Sonar Bhutia, is quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

"We're hoping to profit by it."

But correspondents say the opening is more symbolic than substantive, with trade confined to some local goods.

India will import 15 items from China, including goat and sheep skins, yak tails and raw silk.

China, for its part, will import 29 items including tea, rice and spices.

"Trading will take place four days a week, Monday to Thursday," says Sikkim director of industries, Saman Prasad Subba.

Diplomatic triumph

Some analysts believe that trade through the land route could generate millions of dollars in trade eventually.

Chinese and Indian military officials exchange greetings at the Nathu La pass
Both sides have put their bitter past behind them

But at the moment most agree that there are more immediate political benefits rather than economic.

"This resumption of border trade is more significant for Indian diplomacy, not for trade," says Jayantanuja Bandopadhyay, professor of international relations in Calcutta's Jadavpur University.

Sikkim is a former Buddhist kingdom that merged with India in 1975, a move that was opposed by China which lay claim to the state.

"By allowing trade through Nathu La, China has accepted Sikkim as part of India that it refused to do earlier," Mr Bandopadhyay says.

The Nathu La pass was closed in 1962 after war broke out between China and India.

The famed Silk Road was an ancient trading route that once connected China with India, West Asia and Europe.

From a more personal perspective:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1736891,000900030011.htm

“You are under enemy observation now,” read the signboard at the windswept terrain misted by a swirling mass of cloud and flanked by two mighty peaks on the Indo-China border between Sikkim and Tibet.

Till yesterday, Nathu La was just another tourist destination, drawing hordes from all over the country for a first hand experience of the “border and ice”.

Today the signpost has been replaced by “Qing Dao Zhelilai. Women Shi Hao Pengyou,” , which roughly translated, means “Please Come Here. We are very good friends.” Sino-Indian bonhomie is at its peak and its party time at Nathu La, teeming with journalists and government officials. Hands that once wielded guns, are preparing for Thursday ‘s carnival, when the Silk Road opens after 44 years. Roads are being spruced up, tents are being rigged and the hills are reverberating with the drone of generators, brought in to light up the icy swathe.

“I am very happy. My long- cherished dream is being fulfilled,” Sikkim chief minister Pawan Kumar Chamling told the Hindustan Times on Wednesday.

In an exclusive chat with the HT, he recalled how everybody scoffed at him when he insisted that the road be reopened in 1994. “People dismissed me then. But look what’s happening now?” he said. Chamling hoped that the opening of the historic trade link will also be a watershed in Sino-Indian ties.

“We want to operate buses from Gangtok to Lhasa and start container traffic service between the two countries on this route as this is a shortage of trade route between the two countries,” he said. Lhasa, a 10-hour drive from Gangtok, is located nearly 480 km from the Sikkim capital.

According to Chamling, never before China had come this close to acknowledging Sikkim as part of India and neither was India so keen to relegate the cause of a free Tibet to the backburner as they have this time. “Now we must carry it forward,” he said. The status of Sikkim and Tibet had been a thorn in Sino-Indian ties since 1950, when Chinese troops marched into Tibet and Sikkim merged with India later in 1975. The reopening of the Himalayan pass will signal further warming of ties between the two Asian economic powerhouses.

Nathu La is a hive of activity. Indian authorities are still struggling to put things in place. “We are trying to hitch up bamboo poles and erect a makeshift rain shelter,” a senior Army officer said. Rows of pre-fab warehouses at Sherathang, the trade mart 7 km from Nathula, are yet to be completed. The Sikkim government admits that the initial five-year phase will be symbolic; a sort of a “dry run,” but a study envisions transborder trade to touch $1 billion by 2010.

The Border Roads Organisation also has a double-lane highway on its agenda by 2010. The existing 56-km road connecting Nathula to Gangtok is just a track, not suitable for heavy goods-laden vehicles.

Anyway, it looks like two of the biggest border issues between India and China are being settled. Well, not so much in terms of formal treaties, but rather, both sides are increasingly willing to look the other way. Basically China now accepts Sikkim as being Indian and India now accepts China's occupation of Tibet. This and the recently opened railroad from China to Tibet will probably faciliate even more trade in the future. It's good for everyone - the Indians, the Chinese, the Sikkims. The unfortunate exception being the Tibetans. If China allows the Tibetans to get involved in the bulk of the trading it might actually be good for them. The Sikkims for example are salivating at the financial opportunity. If the Chinese intend to dominate the trading however...

 

[Dann]

Of course the Tibetans will benefit too. They're the ones right there in the area! It's just a few members of the Chinese government and military opening up the pass. They're not gonna stay there and turn into traders.

Once the festivities are over the bulk of trading will be left in the hands of locals - the people of Sikkim and Tibet. The same as it's always been only now it's legal whereas before it was illegal smuggling. The same as with the Vietnam border.

 

[Bluemofia]

Well, I'd say this would be good to improve relations between nuclear powers... Don't want nuclear armageddon just yet.