YADONG – China and India have been in almost continuous dialogue for the past three years on de-escalating tension along the disputed frontiers in the Indian Northeast and Ladakh. They have also been discussing the opening up of the mountain passes for commerce and travel.
As far as the residents of Yadong are concerned, the India-China rapprochement cannot proceed fast enough. In fact, the residents of this Tibetan frontier town are exasperated that the Nathula pass remains firmly shut.
Yadong used to be the busiest commercial centre in the Himalaya, with its strategic location at the mouth of the famous Chumbi Valley, through which a route was forced by the Younghusband mission in 1904. The trade route led up from Siligun via Kalimpong and over Nathula into Yadong. The 1962 Indo-Chinese border war put an end to all traffic, but the road is still there.
The businessmen of Yadong have been reduced these past decades to casting envious glances westward towards the bustling trading town of Zham (Khasa) on the Nepal-Tibet border near Kathmandu.