Thursday, July 06, 2006
NATHU LA, ON THE INDIA-CHINA BORDER --
Indian and Chinese officials officially opened a high Himalayan border pass linking the two countries Thursday, 44 years after it was shut by a brief war between the two Asian giants.
The opening of the Nathu La pass was the latest in a string of measures India and China have taken in recent years to improve ties and end decades of mutual suspicion rooted in a 1962 border war.
The 4,300 meter-high (14,000-foot) mountain pass, once part of the famed Silk Road, lies between India's northeastern state of Sikkim and China's Tibet region.
Sikkim's chief minister, Pawan Kumar Chamling, and the Chinese-appointed leader of Tibet Champa Phuntsok cut the ribbon opening the pass to the cheers of the gathered dignitaries, soldiers and traders from both sides. [read more]
