The increased bonhomie between India and China in recent years has opened up the possibility of building newer avenues of cooperation between the two countries. There are reports that after a gap of four decades, the Nathula route (located on the Tibet border with Sikkim) will be opened for trade between India and China in late September, which could give a boost to transnational economic ties in the region. However, an assessment of the ground situation reveals that the implementation of the proposal has not proceeded apace with public pronouncements.
Prior to 1962, Nathula (la = pass) was open as a trade route between India and China. Initially an offshoot of the ancient Silk Road, the pass was brought into use by the British in 1904 as part of an attempt to connect Calcutta to Lhasa. The short border war between India and China in 1962, however, led to the closure of the pass and subsequent limitations on trade between the two nations.
Until very recently, relations between India and China had been friction-laden. The signing of the "Memorandum on expanding border trade" on 23 June 2003, however, marked a change in the way the two states dealt with each other. Traders from both China and Sikkim supported their governments' decision to establish a trade mart at Nathula by September 2005. The trade center was to have banking services, warehouses, customs offices, and other facilities essential for cross border trade. The proposal also included a plan to link the pass to the commercial metropolis of Siliguri, a major center in India's commercial network, via a four-lane road.
Despite the recent easing of relations between New Delhi and Beijing and the ensuing agreement to reopen the trade route, there are no visible results in Nathula. There is hardly any activity on the snow bound ridge currently under the charge of armed forces from the two states. There are no settlements, no markets, no banking facilities, no customs offices, no civil police, nor any form of commercial activity. Even the narrow roads, built for armed vehicles, have been closed to tourists because of landslides.