06 April 2006
China announces vital trade route through Sikkim
(PTI) China has announced that a trade market on the Tibet-India border between Sikkim and the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) would open twice a week from June, setting up the first direct trade link in the region since the sino-Indian border war of 1962. The market is located 16km from Nathu La Pass, "construction is going on at a brisk pace and 60 per cent of it has been completed. Everything should be finished before the deadline", said Pasang Tsering, an official of Dromo (Chin: Yadong) county, who is also the Chief Director at the construction site. Nathu La Pass took over 80 per cent of the total border trading volume between Tibet and India at the beginning of the 20th century, but trading over the pass was suspended in 1962.