India in talks with China to resume border trade at key passes, confirms MEA

India on Thursday confirmed that it continues to engage with the Chinese side to resume border trade through all the designated trade points.

Addressing the weekly briefing on Thursday, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “We have remained engaged with the Chinese side to facilitate the resumption of border trade through all the designated trade points — namely Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand, Shipki La Pass in Himachal Pradesh, and Nathu La Pass in Sikkim.”

He added that any developments on the matter would be shared in due course.

The trading points were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, a period that also saw a sharp downturn in India-China relations following deadly clashes in Galwan, which left 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops dead.

For over three decades, India and China had traded locally produced goods — such as spices, carpets, wooden furniture, cattle fodder, pottery, medicinal plants, electric items, and wool — through three designated points along their 3,488-kilometer (2,167-mile) disputed Himalayan border. The trade value is relatively small, estimated at just $3.16 million in 2017–18, according to the most recent government data available.

Earlier today, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Beijing is “willing to step up communication and coordination with India” on border trade.

“Border trade between China and India has long played an important role in improving lives of the two countries’ border residents,” Bloomberg quoted the ministry as saying.

The planned resumption of border trade signals a gradual thaw in India-China ties, as both sides continue steps to ease tensions. China and India are also set to resume direct flights next month and Beijing has relaxed some curbs on fertilizer exports to India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit China later this month for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit — his first trip there in seven years — with a bilateral meeting with President Xi Jinping likely on the sidelines.

The warming of ties comes as New Delhi’s relations with Washington strain, following a steep 50% tariff imposed by US President Donald Trump on Indian exports — significantly higher than those on regional peers.

With inputs from agencies