For the first time in six years, Indian traders are crossing through the Lipulekh Pass in the Himalayas into Tibet to do business.
Twenty-six traders from the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand made the crossing, heading to the market town of Taklakot - a journey that would have been impossible just months ago.
It is a meaningful moment in a relationship between two giant neighbours that has been difficult for quite a while.
The pass was first disrupted by Covid in 2020. But what really kept it shut was a deadly border clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020, where at least 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese troops were killed in hand-to-hand fighting.
It was the worst violence between the two countries in more than 50 years. After that, the relationship went cold. Trade slowed, flights were cut, visas became harder to get, and thousands of soldiers faced each other across disputed mountain terrain for years.
Getting back to a better place has taken a long time. In October 2024, both countries reached an agreement to ease tensions along their shared border.
High-level meetings followed, including a visit to India by China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi in August 2025, when both sides agreed to reopen three Himalayan trade routes. Lipulekh is the first of those three to actually open.
The reopening also means something special for Hindu pilgrims. The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra (a pilgrimage to the sacred Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar in Tibet that is deeply important to millions of Hindus ) has resumed for the first time since 2019.
Groups of 50 pilgrims at a time are making the journey between June and August this year, crossing either through Lipulekh in Uttarakhand or Nathu La in Sikkim. For many of them, it is a trip they have been waiting years to make.
Analysts say the reopening is a positive sign but should not be read as a complete repair of the India-China relationship. The two countries still disagree about their border, still compete for influence across South Asia, and still eye each other with a degree of suspicion.
But both sides also appear to have decided that talking and trading is better than standing off against each other in the mountains.
For the traders who made that first crossing last week, a market they have not been able to reach in six years is open again. The trading window runs until September, and more crossings are planned. After a long pause, business between two old neighbours is finally resuming.
The U.S. has banned government employees working in Saudi Arabia from using airports in the country without special authorisation. It com...
A Norwegian teenager recruited by a Swedish criminal network to carry out a contract killing in Britain has been sentenced to 20 years’ deten...
Student organisations, opposition groups and youth-led activists took to the streets in Patna and Mumbai on Friday (16 October), demanding the resi...
The Saudi-led coalition said early Thursday that it intercepted and destroyed a drone over Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.
Yemen’s Houthis have claimed responsibility for the recent drone and missile strikes on Saudi Aramco facilities in Dhahran and Riyadh and at King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia, vowing to carry out more attacks in the coming days.
The U.S. has banned government employees working in Saudi Arabia from using airports in the country without special authorisation. It comes after a deadly Houthi strike on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport killed at least 13 people last week.
Ukraine's soldiers have had their access to Starlink satellite internet restricted. Kyiv's troops use the terminals, made by Elon Musk's SpaceX, to pilot drones. A source in Ukraine's Defence Ministry said the restrictions would make it harder for Kyiv's army to down Russian drones.
Ukraine is set to restart attacks on Russian oil refineries following a two-day pause, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, amid growing tensions with Washington over energy strikes and U.S. military support.
A Norwegian teenager recruited by a Swedish criminal network to carry out a contract killing in Britain has been sentenced to 20 years’ detention after police uncovered the murder plot.
U.S. President Donald Trump has called it “a disgrace” that Ukraine has resumed attacks on Russian oil refineries. Attacks are continuing from Russia and Ukraine as media reports say Ukraine has almost run out of Patriot interceptor missiles.
Romanian rescuers resumed their search for seven missing sailors on Friday (16 October) after a drone strike set a chemical tanker ablaze near the country’s Black Sea coast. The attacks have raised fresh security concerns along a vital regional trade route.
Students, lecturers and university staff marched on Argentina’s Congress in Buenos Aires on Thursday to demand President Javier Milei’s government implement a university funding law which would boost staff salaries and increase financial support to institutions to cover operating costs
A 16-year-old shooter opened fire on Thursday at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon in the United States, killing four people, including three children, before being killed by an armed member of the community who had pursued the assailant into the school, police said.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment