KATHMANDU – Amid allegations that China has encroached Nepali land in Humla district, Chinese officials and media have not only dismissed the allegations, but they have seen it as an attempt by some anti-China forces and pro-India hardliners to provoke Nepal against China.
A commentary published in Global Times, a daily tabloid newspaper under China Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper, stated on Tuesday that Nepali Congress, a political party in Nepal widely tagged as a pro-India force, was the main institution behind the false rumors.
Citing unnamed Nepalese officials, the commentary said that a number of Western and Indian media organizations began hyping the so-called China-Nepal border encroachment issue following Shahi’s visit to the border, A team led by Jeevan Bahadur Shahi that returned from an 11-day visit to Nepal-China border in Humla district in October had accused China of encroaching on Nepal’s territory in the district.
Many Nepalese criticized him for his “blind support” of the US following the direction of some in India, according to the commentary. “Shahi’s reports were found malicious and wrong when later a team consisting of security agencies found both No.11 and No.12 pillars in their proper sites,” the commentary quoted from a former Nepal Police officer.
Western and Indian media actively spread the misrepresented news, which has been proven “baseless and malicious,” amid the background that Western and Indian political forces are attempting to turn Nepal into a “center of geopolitical interest which targets China, according to the commentary.
Earlier on November 3, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbing criticized the groundless reports as “fake news without any factual basis”. Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had said in September that the Department of Survey of the Government of Nepal, based on the official records, reports of the joint field inspection and boundary maps, has verified and confirmed that the buildings are not located within the Nepali territory.
Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu had also denied any construction of buildings on the Nepali side of the China-Nepal border as well as having any territorial dispute with Nepal.
