KATHMANDU- The government has also refuted media reports alleging China of constructing buildings within Nepali territory.
Issuing a statement on Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the Department of Survey, Government of Nepal, based on the official records, reports of the joint field inspection and boundary maps, has verified and confirmed that the said buildings are not located within the Nepali territory.
The statement of the ministry comes in the wake of recent news reports by some Indian media about the alleged construction of buildings by China within Nepali territory between Nepal-China boundary pillars number 11 and 12 in Humla district.
“It may be recalled that the matter of buildings in question also surfaced in some media in 2016. An inter-ministerial team after the field inspection had concluded that the said buildings were located approximately one kilometer inside the Chinese territory from the Nepal-China border,” read the statement of the Foreign Ministry. “The boundary between Nepal and China was delineated and demarcated based on the Boundary Treaty and Boundary Protocols signed between the two countries. Nepal and China have always maintained close communication on border matters,” the statement added.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Chinese embassy in Kathmandu had denied any construction work in Nepali territory. In a statement issued amid some Indian media reports that China has carried out some constructions on the Nepali side of Lapcha in Humla district, Wang Xiaolong, the spokesperson of the Chinese embassy, said that such buildings mentioned by the media were on the Chinese side of the two countries’ border.
Some Indian media have been reporting that China has constructed 9 buildings in Lapcha toward the Nepal side of Nepal-China border.
However, Chinese side maintained that Nepal’s territory starts one kilometer from the area where the buildings are constructed.
In a dialogue with a Nepali side led by Humla’s Chief District Officer Chiranjibi Giri that visited Lapcha on Saturday, Chinese side had claimed that the area, where buildings are constructed, is in its map.
