Kathmandu (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Kathmandu and Beijing have signed an agreement to prevent the entry of Tibetan refugees in Nepal, the regular concession of visas into the country and control of the frequent anti-Chinese protests. The document that consists of 13 points was signed yesterday in Chautara near the border with Tibet. In exchange for more control over Tibetan exiles, Beijing will facilitate the entry of Nepalese workers into Tatopani on the border with Tibet.
After the invasion of Lhasa in 1950 and the exile of the Dalai Lama in India (1959), Nepal has hosted thousands of refugees fleeing from Tibet, enabling them to support the government in exile. To date over 20 thousand Tibetan refugees hosted in the country.
With the fall of Nepal's monarchy in 2006 and the rise to power of the Maoist parties (Unified Communist Party of Nepal) and Marxist-Leninist Party (Unified Marxist-Leninist), the country has begun to tighten economic agreements with Beijing, by prohibiting all anti-Chinese demonstrations by exiles. As early as 2008 on the occasion of the Beijing Olympics, the government had restricted the protest march, by force.
According to the Nepalese media, China had recently asked Nepal to deploy about 10 thousand security personnel along the Sino-Nepalese border. Beijing also offered the government in Kathmandu to train a police force specializing in quelling protests.