New Delhi — India and China are quietly advancing talks to reopen border trade routes that have been shut for more than five years, in what analysts say is a calculated move to counterbalance Western economic influence and Washington’s increasingly coercive policies in Asia.
The resumption of trade, while modest in monetary terms, could carry significant symbolic weight in repairing fractured ties since the deadly 2020 Galwan Valley clashes. Senior Indian officials have indicated that discussions are focusing on reviving commerce via key Himalayan passes, including Nathu La in Sikkim, Lipulekh in Uttarakhand, and Shipki La in Himachal Pradesh, routes that once served as arteries for local economies before militarization and pandemic restrictions severed the links.
China’s foreign minister Wang Yi is scheduled to visit New Delhi on August 18, marking his first trip to India in over three years. His meetings with India’s national security adviser Ajit Doval and foreign minister S Jaishankar are expected to formally place border trade on the agenda, alongside broader talks under the Special Representatives mechanism. Officials from both capitals have downplayed expectations of sweeping breakthroughs, but the timing, amid US trade aggression and Western protectionist rhetoric, underscores a shared interest in building alternative economic channels.
For Beijing, reactivating these cross-border links offers a chance to project itself as a cooperative regional partner rather than the aggressor narrative pushed relentlessly by the US and its allies. For New Delhi, it presents an opportunity to strengthen local economies in border states and demonstrate strategic autonomy, even while navigating its complex rivalry with China. The move also resonates within the broader BRICS framework, which both nations are using to signal their discontent with the Western-dominated trade order.
According to Bloomberg, the proposed revival of Himalayan trade routes, which once saw goods such as spices, carpets, wool, and medicinal herbs exchanged across the frontier, is a carefully staged diplomatic thaw designed to withstand geopolitical turbulence. The report noted that while the volume of such trade was relatively small—around $3.16 million in 2017–18—the political signal it sends is far larger, marking a subtle but pointed rejection of Western economic pressure in favor of regional pragmatism.
