E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, FEB 02 -

Nepal has unilaterally cancelled the proposed boundary talks with China, after the latter refused to recognise Nepal’s stance over the missing Pillar No 57 in Lamabagar, Rasuwa.

This has prompted the Nepali side to cancel the meeting which was expected to finalise other outstanding border issues with China, including the height of Mt Everest and identification of the Nepal-India-China tri-junction at Kalapani in the Far Western Darchula district.

The five-day summit, which was to begin on Wednesday in Xian, China, was also expected to prepare groundwork for the signing of the so-called Fourth Protocol of Nepal-China boundary maps. This is the first time the boundary maps have been prepared by the GPS method.

The talks were officially cancelled two days ago after Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai was briefed about the mandate given to the Nepali side, as prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), in the absence of Foreign Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha. According to multiple sources, the MoFA had prepared a four-point mandate to hold talks with the Chinese side.

The first mandate was to sort out claims and counterclaims over the height of Mt Everest. The Nepali side believes that the ‘snow height’ over Mt Everest should be taken into account while determining its height (8,848 metres). China, on the other hand, has advised that the ‘rock height’ should be taken into account since it is the permanent height (8,844.50 metres) of the mountain.

According to the second mandate, the two sides were to follow the ‘watershed principle’ while recognising the missing pillar in Rasuwa. “After China disagreed to recognise Pillar No 57 in a recent meeting at the MoFA, both the sides agreed to follow the watershed principle. This was a win-win situation for us—otherwise we would lose 30 hectares,” a senior government official said.

The Nepali side has maintained that Pillar No 57 was erected with mutual consent and it is related to border sentiments. “So we have been asking the Chinese side to honour the pillar which stands in a barren hill region,” said a Nepali official.

“Subsequently, the Chinese side has agreed to follow the watershed principle and both the sides agreed to work towards a consensus,” said the official.

The two sides agreed to follow the watershed principle and decided to insert a small ‘triangular’ between Pillars No 57 and 58. It was a compromise whereby Nepal would lose only six hectors of land, said the official.

“If we don’t agree on the watershed principle, we will lose more land,” said Lal Mani Joshi, secretary at the Ministry of Land Reforms.

After PM Bhattarai was briefed about the developments, he took a firm position that he did not want to lose any land to China, which could have “serious political implications” for him, an official quoted the PM as saying. “The PM said we need to do more homework on this issue. And once that’s done, the talks should take place at an early date,” an aide to PM, Bishowdeep Pandey, said.

On the Kalapani issue, Nepal has said that a small lake near Limpudhara should be the tripartite border point and not the Lipu Lek, as has been currently designated. “But since it’s a tri-partite issue, we need to talk with India too in order to settle the Kalapani border controversy,” another official said.

Posted on: 2012-02-02 08:55

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