China has temporarily closed its common border with Tajikistan, according to the Ministry of Transport (MoT).
An official source at a MoT says China has temporarily closed its border with Tajikistan in connection with celebrations dedicated to China’s Lunar New Year.
New moon falls on January 24, 2020, at 21:42 UTC. Each year is associated with one of 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac. 2020 is the Year of the Rat. Festivities in 2020 begin on January 24 and continue for 15 days, culminating with the Lantern Festival.
Opened in 2004, the Tajik-China trade route runs from Khorog, the capital of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous region (GBAO) in southeastern Tajikistan, over a high-altitude plateau and then down into China, where it ends in the city of Kashgar, 700 kilometers away.
As conditions are so tough at the Kulma border crossing, which is located on a mountain pass 4,400 meters high, until May 1 2008, the gateway had stayed open only 15 days out of every month, while from November through April it had been closed altogether.
From May 2008 to December 2011, the Kulma crossing operated every day, except weekends, from May through November.
In December 2011, Tajikistan and China reached an agreement on a year-round operation of the Kulma border-crossing checkpoint in December 2011. Under the agreement signed in Dushanbe on December 29, 2011, a status of international crossing was given to the Kulma border-crossing checkpoint.
Meanwhile, Kyrgyzstan has temporarily closed its common border with China amid coronavirus fear. Kyrgyz national news agency Kabar says Prime Minister Muhammedkalyi Abulgaziyev stated this at a government session on January 27.
