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| India, China reopen ancient Silk Road | | Nathu La pass makes new history for Asian giants | | From B L KAK
NEW DELHI, July 6: Nathu La pass on India-China border made a big news on Thursday, 44 years after a bloody war between the two Asian giants, India and China, shut down the ancient route, known as Silk Road. New Delhi and Beijing put aside their differences on the boundary dispute and added a new leaf to the chequered history with the reopening of the Nathu La pass.
Indian and Chinese soldiers on either side of the Nathu La pass help up umbrellas in the pouring rain ; they were without automatic rifles they usually carry. Senior officers from Indian State of Sikim and Chinese Tibet cut a ribbon marking the border at the Nathu La. Nathu La means the pass of the listening ear.
It is official: Lot of ground work had to be completed on either side of the Himalayan pass by both India and China, before the July 6 reopening of the ancient Silk Road. The modalites included, among other things, re-building of infrastructure such as roads, market jaunts, living rooms for visitors and monitoring cells.
By the time the Nathu La pass was reopened, dozens of businessmen had queued to complete formalities before crossing into each other's territory through the border post to visit newly built markets on either side. Many in Delhi, who also included top echelons of the Union government, watched on television the highly jubilant Chief Minister of Sikkim, Pawan Chamling, declaring: "Today is a historic day".
And withein the shortest possible time, the Sikkim Chief Minister referred to the relevant portion of the history of the past: “A contact that started centuries back between our two civilisations is being re-established today. The formal re-opening of this trade route will be a win-win situation for both countries.”
Ties between India and China, the world’s two most populated nations, were marked by mutual suspicion for nearly three decades after their border war in 1962 until a surge in trade and economic ties pushed political disputes onto the backseat. The reopening of the Nathu La pass, part of the historic Silk Road -- a network of trails that connected ancient China with India, Western Asia and Europe -- took place on the birthday of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan leader who lives in exile in India.
More importantly, the event tok place after Beijing linked the Tibetan capital of Lhasa with a railway and is seen as another move by China to help modernise the long-isolated region. China's envoy to New Delhi, Sun Yuxi, was quoted as saying: “This is a major event for the China-India relationship". According to him, Nathu La border trade markets will not only benefit border inhabitants in both countries and promote local openness and development, but also further motivate and open up a new channel for the blooming China-India trade relations.
Nathu La is the third border trading point to be opened by India and China but is considered the most significant as it controlled almost 80 percent of their entire trade before it was closed in 1962. Today, border exchanges account for a paltry 100 million dollars of total trade with the rest being accounted for by sea and air.
Official border trade could touch 3 billion dollars by 2015 through Nathu La alone if the two countries build good roads, develop infrastructure in the region and lift restrictions on goods that can be traded through the route. Some analysts feel that closer economic bonding would also eventually help the two countries leave the border row behind.
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