23/06/2006
India and China have signed an agreement to resume border trade through the Nathu La Pass after 44 years. The decision has significant strategic and economic implications for their bilateral relationship. The agreement amounts to an oblique recognition by China that Sikkim is a part of India, since an Indian border trade post is located in the state. Beijing’s non-recognition of Sikkim which merged into the Indian Union in 1975 was among one of the irritants in India-China relations. Despite normalisation of their bilateral relations in 1976 there was no progress in terms of border trade which resumed only in 1992. The two neighbours conducted border trade only through the Lipu Lekh Pass in Uttaranchal and Shipki La Pass in Himachal Pradesh. The decision to start bilateral trade through the Nathu La pass is an outcome of an agreement between the Prime Ministers of the two countries in 2003. The opening up of the third border trade post therefore suggests a step forward in their bilateral relationship and would help to expand the economic engagement between the two neighbours. Considering that the villages on both sides of the border are landlocked mountain economies, bilateral trade would promote prosperity in these areas.
Another spin off from the border trade is that it would provide a fillip to tourism to destinations like the Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim and Bodhgaya in nearby Bihar. It would attract Tibetan and Chinese Buddhists, as the overland route to these destinations would reduce travel costs and prove cheaper than travelling through major hubs. In turn this would enable development of these remote areas with the movement of tourist traffic through them. Also the rationale underlying border trade is to eventually develop the Kolkata and Haldia ports into entry ports. Border trade would also provide West Bengal more export opportunities that could contribute to its economic development.
Evidently New Delhi and Beijing appear to have shed their old mindsets and have now embarked on an economic engagement with each other. Now the Niti Mana Pass in Uttaranchal is the next border trade post that needs to be opened up. While the border trade would facilitate a free flow of traders and people across the two countries, the government cannot afford to lower its guard and needs to ensure that the Siliguri corridor should not become vulnerable to security threats.
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