Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: After a studied silence for over two years, Nepal has finally woken up and accused China of encroaching upon its territory.
The Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu has, however, denied any encroachment.
In June 2020, Nepal had also denied any Chinese encroachment on its territory.
For the first time, however, a Nepalese government report has, according to the BBC, officially accused China of interfering into Nepalese territory along the two countries’ shared borders, the media reported on Tuesday.
Following reports that China had been trespassing in the far-western district of Humla, Kathmandu had commissioned the official probe in September 2021.
Since the early 1960s, Nepal shares a 1,400km (870 miles) long border with China along the Himalayas. A major part of this remote border is inaccessible, and hard to locate, because of the hostile terrain in the mountains. On the ground, however, it is demarcated by a chain of pillars.
After reports that China was encroaching upon Nepalese land, Kathmandu sent a task force comprising government and police officers to Humla. It noticed that the Dragon had allegedly built a series of constructions on the Nepalese territory.
The task force also discovered that the Chinese surveillance activities had restricted religious activities in Lalungjong, on the Nepalese side of the border. The Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims routinely visit this area because of its proximity to the sacred Mount Kailash. China has also limited grazing of Nepalese farmers’ cattle.
Besides, they found China building a fence around a border pillar in the same area and attempting to construct a canal and a road on the Nepalese side of the border. The task force recommended Nepalese security forces be stationed in the area to guarantee security and suggested the two countries reactivate a dormant mechanism set up earlier to resolve border issues.
China has also gradually restricted the unofficial cross-border traffic of pilgrims and traders.
The report, quoting Vijay Kant Karna, a former Nepalese diplomat who now works at a think-tank in Kathmandu, said Beijing could be worried about India, its regional rival with whom it has its own border issues. “It looks like they are concerned about infiltration from outside forces, so they want to disconnect relations across the border,” he said.
China might also be worried about movement in the opposite direction. The restive Tibet is on the Chinese side of its border with Nepal, from where many people have in the past fled to escape Beijing’s repression. At present, about 20,000 Tibetan refugees live in Nepal while others migrated to India and elsewhere. In recent years, China has tried to cut off this escape route.
For over two years, the media had reported Chinese encroachment in Nepal, against which the Nepalese protested in Kathmandu, their latest demonstration being in January this year.