China has, once again, shut the Tatopani and Rasuwagadhi border points between Nepal and China, citing an increase in the number of Covid cases in the cities near the transfer points. Nepali customs officials say that the Tatopani border is closed since Wednesday whereas the Rasuwagadhi point is shut since last weekend. This decision comes as a big setback for Nepalese traders who will be incurring losses worth millions of Nepalese rupees ahead of the famous Nepalese Dashain festival.
Nepal’s Dashain Festival, the Nepali version of the Hindu festival Vijay Dashmi is the biggest and longest festival celebrated in the Himalayan country. According to the Nepali calendar, the festival falls from 10 to 19 Ashwin 2079 BS. This year, the festival will be celebrated from 26th September to 5th October 2022.
According to reports, more than 300 Nepal-bound container trucks with goods worth billions of rupees, imported for the upcoming Dashain festival, have been stranded at the checkpoints on the northern border for the last two weeks as China had declared lockdowns in different cities citing a surge in Covid cases.
This is incidentally, the third consecutive year the Nepalese traders will be missing out on the Dashain shopping season as China has been imposing an undeclared blockade on Nepal for the last two years. Under the guise of preventing the spread of Covid-19, this blockade has been in place since early 2020, posing significant challenges for Nepali traders and negatively impacting their livelihoods.
In fact, Nepalese traders had, at the end of January 2022, also staged a protest in Rasuwagadhi against the same. According to reports, businessmen carried placards that read, “Ensure smooth movement of containers, ensure the safety of Nepali living at the border, abide by international law and end undeclared blockade”, amongst others. Locals at Tatopani in Sindhupalchowk district had also earlier staged a protest on China’s blockade.
Nepal govt report says Chinese encroachment along border areas
Notably, in February this year, a memorandum was handed over by the Rashtriya Ekata Abhiyan to the United Nations, informing them about the land encroachment in Humla, Nepal, by China. The Nepali civil society group has urged the international community to intervene in the issue pertaining to land grabbing by China in neighbouring countries.
The Rashtriya Ekata Abhiyan has been launching campaigns against the Chinese encroachments. In the memorandum submitted to the UN, the group has called for China to withdraw the encroached land. It has urged the Nepali and Chinese governments to initiate border inspection under the supervision of the international community and urged all stakeholders to keep GPS records of all border posts.
Reports suggest China has encroached on land not only in Humla but also in Gorkha, Darchula, Dolakha and Sindhupalchowk. The group has submitted copies of the memorandum to the US Embassy European Union Representative. Russian Embassy, Indian Embassy and Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu.
