| Kulma Pass | |
|---|---|
  Kulma Pass Location of the Kulma Pass within the greater Pamir region  Kulma Pass Kulma Pass (Tajikistan)  Kulma Pass Kulma Pass (Pamir) | |
| Elevation | 4,362.7 m (14,313 ft) |
| Location | China–Tajikistan border |
| Range | Sarikol_Range, Pamir Mountains |
| Coordinates | 38°08′58″N 74°48′05″E / 38.1494°N 74.8014°E |
 | |
| Kulma Pass | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 闊勒買山口 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 阔勒买山口 | ||||||
| Literal meaning | Kulma Pass | ||||||
| |||||||
| Alternative Chinese name | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 卡拉蘇口岸 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 卡拉苏口岸 | ||||||
| Literal meaning | Karasu Port | ||||||
| |||||||
The Kulma Pass[1] (Tajik: Перевал Кульма,[2] Chinese: 阔勒买山口) or Qolma Pass,[3] also referred to as Karasu Pass,[4] is a mountain pass across the Pamir Mountains on the border between Murghob District, Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in Tajikistan and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County, Kashgar Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in China. Asian Highway AH66 runs through the pass, which provides for the only modern day overland border crossing along the 450 km boundary between the two nations.[5]
The pass has an elevation of 4,362.7 metres (14,313 ft)[6] and opens from the north to the southeast, and is 500 m wide from north to south and 1 km in length from east to west with a gentle incline not exceeding 20 percent. On the Tajik side, the pass is 80 km by road to Murghab and about 850 km to Dushanbe. On the Chinese side, the pass is 13.9 km from Karasu (卡拉苏口岸), a port of entry on the Karakorum Highway which leads to Tashkurgan (60–70 km) and Kashgar (220 km). In the past, the pass used to be open from the 16th to the 30th day of each month from May to November. In most recent years it is open all weekdays all year round (except for national festivities).
The pass was closed for many years due to political tensions between the Soviet Union and China, and then the Tajikistani Civil War. In 1997, China and Tajikistan signed an agreement to develop a commercial corridor between the two countries through the pass. The opening of the pass reduced cargo travel time between the two countries by ten to fifteen days, obviating lengthy detours into Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
- ^ "State border of the Republic of Tajikistan with the People's Republic of China". Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan. 1 March 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
"Kulma" pass is the only international passage through the border between the Republic of Tajikistan and the People's Republic of China
- ^ Таджикско-китайская Государственная граница. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan (in Tajik). 1 March 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
Перевал Кульма является единственным международным коридором через границу между Республикой Таджикистан и Китайской Народной Республикой,
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
caravanistan_qolmawas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Rumer, Eugene B.; Trenin, Dmitri; Zhao, Huasheng (2016). Central Asia: Views from Washington, Moscow, and Beijing. Routledge. p. 183. ISBN 9781315289519. Retrieved 2017-02-05.
- ^ 赵春晖 (2006-12-24). "中塔卡拉苏口岸进入"冬歇期" 明年5月恢复通关". news.xinhuanet.com (in Chinese). Xinhua News Agency. Archived from the original on February 9, 2009. Retrieved 2017-02-05.
- ^ [China-Tajikistan Border Agreement] (in Chinese). 2002-05-17 – via Wikisource.
该界点在4362米阔勒买大坂(原苏联地图为4362.7米库利玛山口)上
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).