By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, Nov. 4: In what is being seen as a joint effort to refute the recent Chinese encroachment in Nepalese territory, both the ruling Nepalese party and the Chinese government have reportedly denied on Tuesday the accusations of Chinese encroachment on Nepalese territory.
The development comes after the incident of encroachment was confirmed by a 19-member fact finding team that visited the site last month. The Nepalese opposition leader Jeevan Bahadur Shahi said Chinese troops had built nine concrete structures about 1 km inside Nepal’s Limi region in Humla district bordering Tibet.
Both the governments have denied the accusations of Chinese encroachment made by Nepal’s opposition legislators. A spokesperson of Nepal’s foreign ministry, Sewa Lamsal said that “it is not true that China has encroached our land and had constructed buildings there.” Beijing foreign ministry’s spokesperson Wang Wenbin dismissed the reports indicating Chinese encroachments as a “completely unfounded rumour.”
In September, Nepalese foreign minister remarked that similar claims were also recorded about the area in 2016 and said that the buildings were located within Chinese territory. Lawmaker Shahi argued that China did not object when Nepali villagers built a road in the sparsely populated area 10 years ago, “They are now saying the small valley belongs to them.” The ruling Oli government which has been accused of being pro-Chinese has been criticised for lack of political will to confront the border dispute with China.
Last month, Nepalese protestors gathered near the Chinese embassy in Kathmandu and demanded China to vacate the territory immediately. A statement issued by the spokesperson of the Chinese embassy in Kathmandu remarked that the buildings “have been verified to be on the Chinese side of the China-Nepal border”. It asked the Nepalese side to make the verification again, and claimed that the two countries are “friendly neighbours”. It further added that “[China] has always respected Nepal’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
In June, China occupied a village in Gorkha district of Nepal bordering Tibet and claimed it as part of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).
