Karchen Lama and his team visit pillar NO. 12 at the border on November 4. Photo: Courtesy of Karchen Lama
Fabricated Western media reports accusing China of encroaching on Nepalese bordering lands reflect the political intentions of some anti-China forces and pro-Indian activists, said some Nepalese observers who shared their first-hand observations and analysis with the Global Times.
Media reports claiming that China has annexed more than 150 hectares of Nepalese land have been proven fake by repeated investigation teams from China and Nepal. Despite foreign Ministries of both sides have denied the groundless reports, media kept hyping them amid rising regional instability where both China and Nepal are caught in border disputes with India.
Groundless reports citing anonymous Nepalese politicians said that Chinese military had crossed the China-Nepal border into the border district of Humla and moved the stone pillars used to demarcate the boundary into Nepalese territory for China to construct military bases. Nepalese observers told the Global Times that repeated front-lined investigations have proven that the pillars were not moved and were covered with ice and mud.
Karchen Lama, Chairman of Himali Bhote Lama National Liberation Front, a sisterhood organization of Nepal Communist Party (NCP), told the Global Times that he led the 16-member team to visit the border area and found the pillars were not replaced and China has not encroached on Nepalese land in the area.
Another Humla District official, who preferred not to be named, and was part of Nepalese joint investigation team, composed of Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, Army and other departments, also confirmed the pillars were found in their original positions and the news reports completely misrepresented and distorted the situation.
The buildings that some in Nepal say encroach on its land are in Humla district which falls within Chinese territory and is actually a newly-built village in Burang county in Ali, Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, a Burang county official told the Global Times in a previous interview.
Nepali Congress, a social-democratic political party in Nepal that was widely tagged as a pro-India force, was considered the main actor behind the media hyping. Nepal's former minister Jeevan Bahadur Shahi, also a member of Nepali Congress, who had previously been trained as a pilot at a US-based aviation school, initiated the accusation against China.
"His reports were found malicious and wrong when later a team comprising of security agencies found both NO. 11 and 12 pillars in their proper sites," Yogeshwar Ktm Man, former Police officer of Nepal Police Service, told the Global Times. Yogeshwar noticed that Western and India media actively spread the misrepresented news which have been proven "baseless and malicious," amid the background that more Western and Indian political forces are attempting to turn Nepal as a "center of geopolitical interest which targets China."
Nepalese intellectuals are suspicious about the increasing Western activities in Nepal, considering many NGOs are still operating throughout the country and behind some armed rebellion political movements, said Yogeshwar Ktm Man. He alleged some Indian channels "were running news against Nepal's sovereignty and spreading concocted news about Nepal and China." He is worried some news reporters and politicians have been working as paid agents of India.
Karchen Lama also suggested that he learned Jeevan Bahadur Shahi is spreading the flag of Tibetan separatists at the border village at night.
"Some local media is under pro-Indian forces' control and they are able to spread such reports easily with highlighted cover news. They provoke Nepalese saying China will capture Mt. Everest (Mount Qomolangma) someday. They are working to raise enmity between Nepalese and Chinese and they are moving ahead continuously on their mission," said Karchen Lama.
"Some India political forces are afraid of gradually losing control in Nepal, since Nepal is the part of Chinese-initiated Belt and Road Initiative project and will be connected with China through better roads and rail links. In the future Nepal will not be an India locked country. So, self-reliant Nepal is a problem for India," Yogeshwar Ktm Man argued.
The increasing presence of Indians and Westerners is aimed at disturbing China, Pushpa Raj Pradhan, Editor-in-Chief of the Nepalese media People's Review Weekly, commented to the Global Times, saying such misrepresentations with political intentions against China were raised five years ago and heard in recent years.
"Nepal is a tiny country with huge unseen foreign investments. Westerners as well as Indians are active in Nepal to make their stronghold here. Indians want Nepal to be their protected state, whereas, Westerners want to make their stronghold here to watch and conduct anti-China activities," Pushpa Raj Pradhan said.