(TibetanReview.net, May19’21) – While reportedly building an entire village by occupying Bhutanese land, China appears to have been busy also in nibbling on Nepalese territory, removing border pillars put in place under a 1961 treaty between the two countries. The removal of border pillars in the Daulkha district of the Himalayan nation appears to be yet another example of growing Chinese belligerence and a complete disregard to the international border by Beijing, said an ndtv.com report May 19, citing the EU Reporter.
The report said Nepal’s Home Ministry had reported the situation in village-Vigu of District-Daulkha to the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
After the 1961 treaty, the boundary line between Nepal and China had witnessed several changes mainly including with the erection of 76 permanent border pillars. China is now trying to change the status quo in its favour, the report said.
Earlier, a survey by Nepal’s Ministry of Agriculture was reported to have revealed that China had illegally encroached on several bordering districts including Gorkha, Dolakha, Humla, Darchula, Sindhupalchowk, Rasuwa, and Sankhuwasabha.
In September last year, it was reported that China had encroached on Nepalese territory and constructed 11 buildings in Humla, a remote district of Nepal’s border. It led to widespread protests outside the Chinese embassy in Nepal, with people sloganeering “Stop Chinese Expansionism,” the report noted.
The buildings were reported to be constructed at the spot where a Nepalese border pillar was found missing several years ago. The local rural municipality chair of the area had reported the matter to Kathmandu.
Local Nepalese officials spoke of having made attempts to negotiate with the Chinese side only to be rebuffed by the latter with hostility. The Chinese security personnel came armed with a tanker, truck and a jeep, and told the Nepalese officials to retreat to the border for talks and clarifications, the report said.
Nepal’s ruling communist party has kept playing down the encroachments, saying there were no border violations by China in the face of protests from a section of the opposition.
