Nepal has urged China to reopen the two trading points on the Sino-Nepal border at the earliest amid problems along the border with India, media reports said on Friday.
Amid a diplomatic standoff with New Delhi over Nepal’s new constitution and continuous unrest in the country’s southern border with India, Kathmandu is now mulling an alternative to do business with China. India and China are landlocked Nepal’s two giant neighbours.
Nepal is surrounded by India from three sides and China on the north. Nepal’s over 90 percent trade and economic activities are with India as nationals from both sides do not need visa to travel to each other’s country.
According to Nepali media reports on Friday, with the supply of essential commodities being hit by disturbances at major custom points in the southern plains, the government has urged Beijing to reopen trade routes that have remained out of operation following the April 25 earthquake.
Officials from the ministry of commerce and supplies of Nepal held talks with Chinese embassy officials here on Wednesday and Thursday.
They requested Chinese assistance for an early reopening of custom points at Tatopani and Rasuwagadhi, two key trading points between Nepal and China.
“With major festivals like Diwali and Dussehra around the corner, we have requested China to resume border operation as soon as possible,” said Naindra Prasad Upadhyaya, secretary at the ministry.
He added that the Chinese authorities had responded positively.
The Rasuwagadhi route came into formal operation in December 2014. Since the April earthquake, the trade routes of Barabise-Tatopani-Khasa and Nuwakot-Rasuwagadhi-Kerung have remained closed.
According to the ministry, the Chinese government has been undertaking road repair on its side of the border.