China’s salami-slice strategy on Nepal’s northern border has resulted in the encroachment of 36 hectares of Nepal’s land at 10 places on the northern border by China.
According to the survey document issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, China encroached on 36 hectares of Nepal’s land at 10 places on the northern border. Similarly, the study conducted by the Ministry of Home Affairs has concluded that it is necessary to include border issues in the “state policy” of Nepal, reported Meta Khabar. However, the world community and the Nepalis themselves are probably unaware of the magnitude of the problem.
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) built a veterinary centre for animal husbandry in 2016, located in a Nepal district, but Nepal has not responded to this.
In a February 2022 report by the UK-based media, China accused Nepal of encroaching on shared borders. According to the publication, based on official documents, China has started efforts to build canals and roads around the border post in the far western Humla district of Nepal.
China was also accused of “surveillance activities in the Lalungzong border area, the Chinese border next to Nepal,” reported Media Dabali.
Recent reports have revealed that not only Nepalese farmers are facing restrictions on livestock grazing, but also the ban on ‘Hindu and Buddhist shrines’ in the border area has been imposed by China.
The scale of Chinese encroachment is such that more than seven of the 15 districts of Nepal bordering China are facing Chinese land encroachment including Dolakha, Gorkha, Darchula, Humla, Sindhupalchok, Sankhuwasa and Rasuwa districts, reported Meta Khabar.
Villages in Darchula and Gorkha have also been taken over by China, the latest example being Rui village. In September 2020, China also built eleven structures on the remote border of the Humla district.
The pillars of this district were found to have been demolished and moved by China. The then government of Nepal assigned the Ministry of Home Affairs to study the situation in the Humla district.
According to The Kathmandu Post, the study committee led by Joint Secretary Jayanarayan Acharas submitted a report to the Home Minister in the last week of September 2021.
The study has made some recommendations of a strategic nature related to the status of the border pillar, while the government has made strategic recommendations that the border dispute should be included in the state policy and find an early solution – long and short and to study China built structures and roads inside Nepali land.
