China Builds Road to Nepal Border, Sets Up Flag

Chinese soldiers and civilians building a road from southern Tibet to Nepal set up a banner and Chinese national flag at the border this week, inviting Nepalese citizens on the other side of the line to help them extend the road farther into Nepal, a local source said.

The group, which appeared on Sept. 1 at Nepal’s border with Kyirong county in the Tibet Autonomous Region, distributed food and clothing to the Nepalese, promising to help them with the roadwork and other construction projects in Nepal if permission can be obtained from government authorities in Kathmandu, a resident of the area told RFA’s Tibetan Service.

“The Chinese began building a road from the Tibetan side of the border up to the Nepalese side about two years ago, and they have now finally finished that work,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Now, a group of Chinese military and civilian officials have appeared at the border, raising a banner and the Chinese national flag to win the hearts and minds of the people on the border,” he said.

The banner, which was written in both Chinese and Tibetan, urged loyalty to the Chinese “motherland” and called for “harmonious living,” the source said.

“This is a new development, and the local Nepali residents are concerned and have mixed feelings about China’s distribution to them of free goods,” the source said.

Reported by Lhuboom for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney.