KATHMANDU: At a time when anti-China protests have flared up in Kathmandu against China’s reported encroachment of the Nepali land in Hulma, Nepal’s Ambassador to China Mahendra Bahadur Pandey’s interview with a Chinese mouthpiece on the Nepal-India border issue and Indian media’s role on straining Nepal-China’s relations has drawn the attention of the foreign affairs experts.

He had in the interview said Nepal had been an independent and a sovereign country when India was a colony.

During the interview, Pandey had labeled the Indian media of being biased by publishing “fake news and propaganda”. In fact, Nepali media, too, had covered the issue extensively.

Nepal’s foreign affairs experts dubbed Pandey’s remarks against “diplomatic norms”.

In the interview, Ambassador Pandey had said the border problem with China or India should not be made an issue of propaganda adding that the issue needs to be resolved based on the historic records and facts, not through propaganda, to ensure a scientific conclusion.

However, foreign affairs experts view that his interview with the Chinese government mouthpiece on issues such as the Nepal-India border dispute was against diplomatic practice.

“The government should seek an explanation for this,” former Foreign Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat told Khabarhub.

He termed Pandey’s remarks “irresponsible and against diplomatic norms”. Mahat says, “The government, not Ambassador Pandey, has to speak up on the issue based on facts.”

According to him, the government came up with a statement on the issue of Hulma without knowing the facts. “The government should have interacted with the locals of the area where the land was reportedly encroached upon,” he added.

By giving such remarks, Ambassador Pandey has made the situation between China and India even worse by criticizing the Indian media.

In the interview, Pandey, who is also a former Foreign Minister, said that the Nepal-China relations were cordial despite the negative news published by Indian and some Nepali media.

His interview comes at a time when China has allegedly constructed nine illegal buildings in Nepal’s Humla district – a news that was continuously reported by the Nepali media as well as Indian media.

China has, meanwhile, denied the allegations saying that the buildings were built on its own soil.

Nepali Congress lawmaker Gagan Thapa, meanwhile took to Twitter to criticize Ambassador Pandey for his “undiplomatic” remarks.

Thapa has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make its stance clear on Pandey’s statements.

Ambassador in the interview has said that the reports on media were based on a biased attitude labeling them as an “expression of the fear psychology”.

A Nepali team visited the area where the building was constructed, and Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated last week that the buildings were constructed on the Chinese soil and that the Nepal-China border is only one kilometer from the place where the building was constructed.

In this connection, Dr Mahat says the government made haste in reacting.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Pandey also said his priority as a new ambassador to China would be to implement the MoUs and the agreements signed between Nepal and China.

Likewise, former Ambassador to India Dr Lokraj Baral termed Ambassador Pandey’s “undiplomatic” saying, “Such statements will spoil the situation between the two countries.”

“He should have refrained from making such comments,” Dr Baral told Khabarhub at a time when there is a strained relation even between Indian and China of late.

According to him, Pandey’s statements indicate that he is advocating Chinese opinion rather than Nepal’s.

Foreign Affairs expert Arun Subedi, too, is not happy with the way an ambassador spoke to a media on sensitive issue at a time when both the countries were trying to settle the issue based on facts.

“Speaking in favor of a certain country — be it India or China is against diplomatic norms,” a former ambassador told Khabahub insisting anonymity.

“Such statements could put both the sides in trouble,” he said.

Likewise, Dr Shambhu Ram Simkhada, former Permanent Representative to UN said Ambassador Pandey might have given the statements as per the party line. “Although what he has said may be the reflection of the state of relations, the style of expression has to be diplomatic,” he told Khabarhub.

Former Ambassador and foreign affairs expert Dinesh Bhattarai believes Nepal needs to be strong enough internally rather than pointing fingers to others. “This is a challenging time, and Nepal needs to be serious about how to grow and sustain,” he said.

“Foundation of a strong foreign policy is a strong domestic foundation,” he said referring adding speaking against any other country or government by a diplomat will invite unwanted circumstances.