Tibet border town hopes for opening to India
Border trade between the two countries, according to latest estimates, only reaches $15 million annually - a paltry contribution to the $70 billion annual bilateral trade.
It doesn't take long for a visitor to Xiasima, the capital of Yadong county in Tibet which borders Sikkim, to gauge that the border trade between India and China still has a long way to fulfill its potential.
Muddy, potholed streets run through the mountain town, which is lined by small trading shops.
Most carry signs in Chinese saying "Yindu Zhizao", or "Made in India". The stores carry everything ranging from chocolates and clothes to incense sticks.
But local traders say limits on trading items - currently limited to only 29 goods imported from India - has made business tough.
"I travelled all the way here from the trading town of Zangmu on the Nepal border, but there is much less business here," said one local businessman, who runs a hotel and did not want to be identified.
Travel restrictions were a big obstacle. Only those with official Yadong residency certificates can cross over into India to source goods, although most of the traders here are from other parts of China.
Traders such as Ms. Qiu Wen, an entrepreneur from Wenzhou in southern China who runs one of the biggest "made in India" stores in the town. On the walls of her shop are posters of Aishwarya Rai Bacchan and Indian films. Indian chocolates and clothes, she said, were her most popular items, which she picks up at a border market that is open for four days every week.
Border trade between the two countries, according to latest estimates, only reaches $15 million annually - a paltry contribution to the $70 billion annual bilateral trade.
"There is much more we can do to boost trade and we are open to all ideas," said Chinese Ambassador to India Le Yucheng, who was in the town to welcome the first batch of Indian pilgrims to cross the border into China from Nathu La on a new route for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra that opened on Monday.
The opening of the route, he suggested, could pave the way for closer engagement. The pilgrims were the first Indians to enter China through Nathu La on passports. "We can have lunch in Gangtok and dinner in Yadong," he said, pointing out that it only took him three and a half hours to reach Yadong from Gangtok. Currently, only 15 items are open for Indian importers, which could be expanded to 30, Le suggested.