Bangladesh, Aug. 4 -- India and China have taken another significant step toward rebuilding their relationship by resuming traditional cross-border trade across their shared Himalayan frontier after a six-year suspension. The reopening of trade on August 2 represents more than the revival of an age-old commercial practice; it signals a broader effort by Asia's two largest emerging powers to restore trust, strengthen economic engagement, and reduce tensions that have strained relations since the deadly Galwan Valley clash in 2020.

For centuries, communities living in the Himalayan regions of India and China's Tibet Autonomous Region relied on seasonal trade through high-altitude mountain passes. Long before modern nation-states establish...