Nepal — The Latest Victim of Chinese Territorial Hunger

China’s territorial hunger has victimised every country in the South Asia and it is high time that we understand the dynamics.

New Delhi: The influence of China on the government of Nepal has been obvious in the past 7-8 years ever since KP Sharma Oli took over the reins of the country for the first time in 2015 and those were times in the history of Nepal when Beijing was controlling the politics of this Himalayan nation. As part of its strategy, China was working for its own interests including aligning Nepal away from India, encroaching territories in Nepal, and establishing absolute control over the land of Baba Pashupati Nath.

So, in 2020, when Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was distracting the world by raising the Kalapani border dispute with India, barely 100 km away, China was constructing buildings and encroaching Nepalese land in the Humla district. Unlike India, over 1400km long Sino-Nepal Border is ratified under several treaties since 1960 and more than 100 boundary pillars were erected in the past to demarcate the territories in this inhospitable terrain but when territorial hunger becomes out of control, such things happen, and Nepal is not the first and last victim. Interestingly, there is no country in the world with which China shares its border and it has not encroached on their land. India, Myanmar, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Bhutan, Laos, Vietnam, and countries of the South China Sea are clear examples. It even has territorial disputes with the countries with whom it does not even share the land or sea border.

The recent issue of encroachment of Borderland in Nepal’s Humla district was first reported by Indian media in 2020 but KP Sharma Oli led government kept diverting the attention towards Kalapani and did not take any action on it till Sher Bahadur Deuba took over the seat of power and constituted a team under the Joint Secretary of Ministry of Home Affairs in September 2021 to investigate the issue. The findings of the report were never made public, but some sections of the findings made their way to the media which disclosed that China has not only trespassed in the Limi Lapcha area of Namkha Rural Municipality but also constructed several buildings and military set up there. Recently, BBC claimed to be in possession of the entire report and made alarming revelations.

Graphic Representation of Chinese Encroachment in Nepal (Image Credit- India.com)

After the initial findings were leaked, some officials of local administration tried to visit the site and were shocked to see that China has constructed about a dozen large buildings with each one of them working as a business complex. These buildings were self-sufficient with solar power, water pipelines from nearby streams, and a well-developed road and network connectivity. Not only constructing the buildings but they also removed Border Pillar no 11 from the site so that their claims can be justified. Removal of border pillar was reported several years ago too but then Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli who has been accused of being a puppet of Beijing vehemently denied it and even issued an official statement after which he started distracting the world by raising Kalapani dispute. Now when things are getting clear, the overall Chinese gameplan is being deciphered.

BBC quoted several sections from the report which says that apart from removing borer pillar in Limi-Lapcha and constructing almost a dozen large business complexes, China also deployed Army guards in the area to stop the Nepali public from entering the area which infuriated the locals.

China did not stop at this construction but in 2021, there were some reports that several border pillars went missing from some other areas where the Chinese have an ingress route in Nepal including the Daulkha district which is a matter of concern not only for Nepal but for India too. They also infiltrated deep into the Nepalese Territory and stopped the locals from carrying out their religious activities in the name of Chinese surveillance in the Lalungjong area where China constructed several buildings right on the borderline of Nepal. Needless to mention that Lalungjong is a holy site for not only Hindus but Buddhists and other sects due to its proximity to Mount Kailash. They have also stopped Nepalese people from grazing their cattle from a number of border villages. Another recent statement by the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of Nepal has disclosed that there were Chinese encroachments reported not only from Humla and Daulkha but several other districts too including Gorkha, Darchula, Sindhupalchowk, Sakhnuwasabha and Rasuwa. These are the claims which need to be investigated in detail.

China’s territorial hunger has victimised every country in the South Asia and it is high time that we understand the dynamics. There are countries where it deliberately did not sign any treaty and as a result claiming their lands as per its own wish. There are countries where it signed the treaties but now quoting 700 to 1000 years old monarchies claiming their lands. There are even countries where it signed the treaties, there was no dispute in the past and the border is clearly demarcated with border pillars where it cleverly removing the boundary pillars and establishing its own foothold. It is also establishing its colonies across the world including Africa, Latin America, Djibouti, Middle East, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and ASEAN countries. Dragon is slowly encircling the world and we must check its activities before it is too late.

Amit Bansal is a Defence Strategist with keen interests in International Relations and Internal Security. He is also an author, blogger, and poet.