Explainer | China on their mind: why the India-Nepal border has become a global flashpoint

While territorial disputes between the countries go back to the 19th century, the coronavirus has injected a new level of ill will into the relationship

The latest crisis has China written all over it

Reading Time:5 minutes

A Nepalese activist burns an image of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a protest in Kathmandu, Nepal. Photo: EPA

Published: 6:30pm, 22 May 2020Updated: 3:56pm, 27 May 2020

The Indian subcontinent is sweltering and it is not the summer heat.

All is not well between India and its neighbour and old friend, Nepal. Both countries have been engaged in cartographic disputes and a war of words that have taken ties to a new low over the past week.

The diplomatic fracas has shone light on a border dispute between the two Himalayan neighbours, one that has its origins in early 19th-century colonial rule. However, with Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Oli broadening the dispute by saying that the “Indian virus was more lethal than the Chinese and Italian now”, the tensions between the two are unlikely to be defused any time soon.

Instead, the bilateral border dispute is now threatening to snowball into a geopolitical regional flashpoint. The Indian Army chief, General MM Naravane, last week hinted at China’s role in pushing Nepal to rake up the border dispute, even as the United States jumped in, asking India to “resist the Chinese aggression” on its border, drawing parallels between the border skirmishes and the disputed South China Sea.

It didn’t help that the last week has also seen clashes between Indian and Chinese army personnel after the latter claimed that Indian troops had transgressed into Chinese territory.

Police detain demonstrators during a protest in Kathmandu against India's newly inaugurated link road to the Chinese border. Photo: AFP

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