Border trade between India and China through the Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district is set to resume this year after a six-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
India on Wednesday categorically rejected Nepal's objection to a decision by New Delhi and Beijing to resume border trade through Lipulekh pass, saying Kathmandu's claims on the territory are not justified.
Chinese airline China Eastern is set to begin its Delhi-Shanghai flight from Sunday, days after IndiGo's flight to Guangzhou from Kolkata, marking the resumption of the flight services between the two countries after a gap of five years.
Nepal's claim on Lipulekh and Kalapani reopens a 200-year-old border dispute, while historical maps and treaties show the area belongs to India, asserts Lieutenant General Shakti Gurung (retd).
The agreement was to disengage from remaining standoff sites along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), two days before a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to India focuses on border talks with NSA Ajit Doval, amidst efforts to rebuild relations after the Galwan Valley clashes and rising India-US tensions.
The Bloomberg report suggests that this backchannel communication from President Xi has laid the groundwork for a broader thaw in relations. This overture has since translated into a series of tangible diplomatic actions leading up to the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.
India and China have announced a series of measures aimed at improving their relationship, including maintaining peace along the border, reopening border trade, and resuming direct flights.
Doval is in Beijing for the 23rd round of the Special Representatives' talks being held after a gap of five years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to work towards a "fair, reasonable, and mutually acceptable" resolution of the festering boundary issue and pledged to work towards stabilising global trade.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held bilateral talks focusing on economic ties and global stability amid trade tensions and the aftermath of the Ladakh border row.
'If China shows greater concerns for Indian interests, ties could improve. Otherwise, the thaw could be short-lived.'
India and China should build on 'good progress' in normalising the bilateral ties to address border-related issues including de-escalation, and it is essential to avoid 'restrictive trade measures and roadblocks', External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday during talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
India and China on Monday decided to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra as the two sides agreed to take certain people-centric steps to 'stabilise and rebuild' ties.
India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri has arrived in Beijing for a two-day visit during which he will hold talks with Chinese officials. The visit comes amid ongoing efforts to de-escalate tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and to resume bilateral cooperation in various fields, including the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov alleged that NATO is blatantly trying to lure India into anti-China intrigues.
India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri will travel to Beijing for a two-day trip beginning Sunday, marking the second high-profile visit from India to China in less than one-and-a-half months. The visit comes amidst ongoing border tensions and follows a recent disengagement pact between the two countries in eastern Ladakh. The Foreign Secretary-Vice Minister mechanism meeting will focus on the next steps for India-China relations, including in the political, economic, and people-to-people domains. The decision to revive this bilateral mechanism was taken at a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan in October.
A meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the SCO summit is being planned.
India is preparing to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, after a three-year hiatus. The decision comes as part of efforts to improve relations between India and China, which have been strained since a military standoff in 2020. The two countries have also agreed in principle to resume flight services between them.
Truck movements across the India-Bangladesh border are on the rise, with increasing rentals signalling a trade recovery between the two South Asian nations. Yet, geopolitical tension looms large, with Bangladesh now under an interim government for nearly two months.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday pledged to strengthen the strategic relationships with neighbouring countries by 'appropriately' managing differences and enhancing supply chain ties as China's tariff war with the United States escalated.
European Union (EU) companies operating in India want New Delhi to streamline or remove non-tariff barriers such as Quality Control Orders (QCOs), complex Customs procedures; simplify labelling, testing, and import procedures; and facilitate cross-border digital transactions without data localisation constraints. These are results of a Business Sentiment Survey, 2025 conducted by the Federation of European Business in India (FEBI) ahead of resumption of negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) between both the sides scheduled to be concluded by year-end.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has announced that India and China have reached an understanding to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in 2025. While an understanding has been reached, the modalities of the pilgrimage are yet to be firmed up. The Yatra has been suspended since 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak and non-renewal of Yatra arrangements by the Chinese side.
The long-awaited Sino-Indian border trade through the Nathula Pass in East Sikkim will resume next month.
The resumption of border trade between India and China through Nathula in Sikkim has been set tentatively for September this year.
Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling has appealed to the people of the state, especially the youth, to use the resumption of Sino-Indian border trade through Nathula as a major instrument for economic growth.
"Give up arms and come for talks or our forces will hunt you down," the home minister said in election rallies in Jammu and Kashmir.
Several candidates, including Taranjit Singh Sandhu, the BJP's Amritsar candidate, are promising resumption of India-Pakistan trade via the Attari-Wagah land route.
The long awaited-resumption of border trade between India and China through the Nathu La pass in Sikkim has been finally set for June 30.
Chinese ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, on Wednesday expressed hope that the recently completed Indo-China border disengagement in Eastern Ladakh would smoothen relations and pave the way for a better understanding between the two neighbours in the days ahead.
'Given China's past behaviour and their territorial claims, should we be sceptical regarding China's willingness to adhere to these agreements fully? The answer is yes.' 'As Ronald Reagan famously said in the context of the SALT talks, 'Trust, but verify!' India should also do the same.' 'This has already begun with foot patrolling, drones, satellite imagery and so on. India's military deployment did mirror China's and will continue to do so in the future.'
Patil may discuss with the state administration the issue of deployment of central paramilitary forces along the state's borders with China and Nepal.
Despite being a neighbour, Pakistan has never accounted for more than 2 per cent of India's total exports, and its share in India's total imports is less than 1 per cent. On the other hand, bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh has increased five times.
Pakistan's Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Monday said the government can consider importing vegetables and other edible items from India following the destruction of standing crops due to massive floods, three years after Islamabad downgraded trade ties with New Delhi over the Kashmir issue.
Pakistan has kept trade and bus services suspended for a little over 10 days but has not publicly stated its stance.
'We have had three wars with India, and they have only brought more misery, poverty, and unemployment to the people'
Though General Naravane's visit will not deal with 'impermanent' issues like the changing stands of politicians, it will certainly reinforce the deeper 'permanent' links between the people of Nepal and India. Time will hopefully tackle the present impermanence of the Sino-Nepalese romance, notes Claude Arpi.
China said on Monday the additional barriers set by India for investors from specific countries violate the World Trade Organisation's principle of non-discrimination, and go against the general trend of liberalisation and facilitation of trade and investment. "More importantly, they do not conform to the consensus of G20 leaders and trade ministers to realise a free, fair, non-discriminatory, transparent, predictable and stable trade and investment environment, and to keep our markets open," said a statement issued by the Chinese embassy in New Delhi.
This year saw no improvement in bilateral ties as India accused Pakistan of cross-border infiltration and re-activation of terror-launching pads near the LoC.
