Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to make a major political gesture towards India and announce a new safer route for Indian pilgrims travelling to Mount Kailash and Mansarovar in Tibet. The route will pass through the North-Eastern state of Sikkim in India. Chinese officials say that Jinping may make the announcement during his India visit, in September.
Jinping was sounded out by Modi on this new route when they met at the BRICS meet in Brazil in July earlier this year. China is planning to invest large sums in India and engage India in trade and business, and Jinping’s announcement is meant to be a friendly gesture. The route will pass through the Nathu La border point in Sikkim and is much easier in terms of the terrain, when compared to the existing routes through Uttarakhand and Nepal, that require arduous treks and mule rides, at altitudes of 5500 meters.
The Indian government arranges for the journey of 1000 pilgrims a year through the current route. It takes 22 days of travel. The new journey will therefore be a respite since it will allow pilgrims to travel by vans and bus all the way to Kailash and Mansarovar, which are of great religious significance in India. This route is longer, however that willbe negated by the use of motor vehicles.
“Indians pilgrimage to Tibet is an important content of bilateral relations,” Chinese officials said during a press briefing. They informed the media that pilgrims can have access to over 2300 vehicles. In 2013, China received 14,084 pilgrims, a slight increase compared with the year 2012. Due to floods in northern India, in 2013 only 51 official pilgrims from India went to Kailash Yatra.