(TibetanReview.net, Mar18’26) – China has been complaining about Tibetan lamas (religious masters) visiting Nepal and got one banned last month. It has now complained about the burning of copies of a book by President Xi Jinping at a communist-party-run college on Mar 14 night, reported the kathmandupost.com Mar 17.
The report cited officials at Nepal’s Foreign Ministry and Home Ministry as saying China had been expressing concerns over several recent developments in the country, including visits by Rinpoches [Tibetan spiritual leaders] to Kathmandu. At China’s request, the government did not allow one Rinpoche to visit Nepal last month.
The report did not name the Rinpoche.
Nepal is home to citizens in a sizeable section of the country northern belt following Tibetan Buddhism and devotees often invite top Tibetan masters to perform rituals and give empowerments and teachings.
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With regard to the reported burning of copies of President Xi Jinping’s The Governance of China at the Manamohan Technical College in Budhiganga, the chief district officer of Morang, Yuvaraj Kattel, has said junior staffers had burned the books and other items due to lack of storage space and the need to clear the room.
The report said that a video footage of the burning show some books, including copies of President Xi’s, being set on fire along with other books, with some people seen holding up Xi’s book to the camera.
Reacting to the incident, the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu on Mar 15 sent a note verbale to Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, urging prompt action against those involved, the report cited foreign ministry officials as saying.
The report said it was not clear why so many copies of the book were kept at the technical college.
This book by Xi has been translated into a number of foreign languages and sent abroad as an exertion of China’s soft power. It was not clear what language the books burnt in the college in Nepal was in.
The report said the Morang district administration and Koshi provincial police were investigating the case.
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The incident was first reported by the Biratnagar-based news website Live News Raftar on Mar 14 night. After the video went viral, the chief district officer of Morang district, Yuvaraj Kattel, telephoned website to ask them to delete it, saying it could harm Nepal-China relations.
“We have instructed local officials in Morang to investigate the matter and take action against those involved,” Home Minister Om Prakash Aryal has said.
The college, which aspires to be a university, was set up by pro-China CPN-UML leaders. According to the college website, the late UML leader Bharat Mohan Adhikari served as president of the college from Aug 6 to Mar 2, 2019. The current president is UML leader and former deputy prime minister Ishwar Pokhrel, who has held the position since Nov 14, 2019, the report said.
The report cited Sonu Kumar Das, the editor of Live News Raftar, as saying he saw a large number of copies of the Chinese president’s book being burned, while many others were still stored in the college. He has spoken of having earlier received a tip-off that some sensitive or corruption-related documents were set to be destroyed at the college.