Beijing, June 5 – China today opposed “double standards” on the issue of combating illegal immigration and said that the recent repatriation of 18 Tibetans from Nepal should not be politicised.
Confirming reports that on May 31, Nepal had repatriated 18 out of the 21 illegal immigrants from Tibet, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said China has been actively participating in the international community’s efforts to combat people smuggling.
“The Chinese side attaches great importance to it and has actively participated in the international and regional cooperation in this field. So we maintain that the handling of this illegal immigration should not be politicised or adopt double standard on this question,” she said.
“I can confirm that Nepalese police recently seized 21 illegal immigrants leaving China via Tibet. After verifying their identities, 18 of them were repatriated to China on May 31”, she said while maintaining that these were done according to normal practice of handling immigrants in the world.
Zhang did not say what would be the fate of the 18 repatriated Tibetans, who according to reports from Kathmandu are aged between 13 and 30.
Nepalese police had arrested the refugees, including three women, from Thankot check post last month and handed them over to the Department of Immigration as they did not possess valid passports, the report said.
Reports also said that the Dalai Lama’s office in Nepal had demanded that the refugees be handed over to the UN High Commissioner for refugees.
