Tibet stir: China worried over open Indo-Nepal border

“China has cautiously expressed its concern over the existing 1,700 km open border between Nepal and India, accusing that Tibetans have been frequently crossing the border to launch free Tibet agitation in Nepal,” a Nepalese weekly reported. Beijing is regarding the open border as a major factor that is fuelling the nearly three-month long protests sparked after Bejing’s crackdown on anti-China protests in Lhasa, the weekly said. China, therefore, wants to either close down the Indo-Nepalese border or regulate it through certain mechanism. In order to control such pre-planned anti-China activities in the Nepalese land, it is essential to regulate or control the open international border between Nepal and India, officials from Beijng pointed out. Interestingly, the Maoists, who are set to lead the next Government in Nepal, have opposed the open border policy as one of their key demands is to abrogate the Nepal-India Peace and Friendship treaty of 1950.

There are over 20,000 Tibetans residing in Nepal at present. Annually some 200 Tibetans come to Nepal crossing the Chinese border on way to meet their spiritual leader Dalai Lama in Dharamshala.

The report was prepared after a team of Nepali journalists this month went to China at the invitation of theChinese government. It also quoted a Chinese think-tank member, who has been a frequent visitor to Nepal, as saying that China was aware of India’s wish to bring Nepal under its influence. “China knows very well that India wants to turn Nepal into a second Bhutan or Sikkim,” Wang Hong-Wei, a professor at the Beijing-based Institute of Asian-Pacific Studies, was quoted as saying.

China on Sunday announced that it will hold a new round of talks with envoys of the Dalai Lama in early July, ahead of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s meetings with the Chinese President, Hu Jintao and the Premier, Wen Jiabao on Monday.

It will be the second time that the two sides meet after Tibet was rocked in March by the worst ever anti-China protests in two decades which later spread to neighbouring provinces and reverberated worldwide.

The first round of talks was held on May 4 in Shenzen after pressure was mounted on China by the West, including USA, to end the crackdown in Tibet and hold a dialogue. The talks remained inconclusive and both sides had agreed to meet again though no fixed date was given.

“We hope that the Dalai Lama would treasure this opportunity and give positive response to the requirements of the central authorities,” a government spokesman said, announcing the second round of talks not specifying the date or venue.

“Our door is always open for dialogue with the Dalai Lama,” the unnamed spokesperson, who said the talks were at the request of the Tibetan leader, was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua news agency.