Nepal-China Disaster Cooperation Demonstrates Shared Himalayan Security: Prof. Liu Yueming

Dragon Media News Desk

The coordination demonstrated by Nepal and China during the recent Bhote Koshi-Kerung disaster has been presented as an important example of practical cooperation for a shared future in the Himalayan region.

Professor Liu Yueming said the two countries have shown over the past week what such cooperation looks like in practice, pointing to the rapid deployment of tunnel rescue experts, aircraft carrying emergency relief supplies and real-time information sharing across the border.

He argued that the disaster in Kerung and Rasuwa should not be viewed simply as a Chinese disaster or a Nepali disaster, but as a shared Himalayan challenge. Because the Himalayan and Tibetan Plateau systems are deeply interconnected, a major hazard in one area can affect communities, river systems, infrastructure and livelihoods across borders.

Following the Bhote Koshi disaster, China has continued to provide Nepal with relief supplies, specialized rescue personnel, forensic experts and other forms of technical assistance. Cross-border sharing of weather and disaster-related information has also expanded. The continuation of this support even while China has been conducting major rescue operations in Kerung has been viewed as a practical expression of close-neighbor cooperation.

Prof. Liu also argued that the warming affecting Nepal and the Tibetan Plateau cannot be understood solely as the result of local emissions. He said the accumulated historical carbon emissions of industrialized countries have contributed significantly to destabilizing the Himalayan cryosphere and that the long-term financial burden of responding to this challenge should therefore be shared more equitably.

In his view, the Himalayas should not be seen merely as a geographical feature of Nepal, China or South Asia. The region functions as a vast “water tower” feeding major Asian river systems, making its stability directly relevant to regional water, food and energy security.

He therefore maintained that emergency relief and short-term pledges from developed countries are not enough. Countries responsible for a large share of historical emissions should contribute meaningfully to the long-term costs of protecting the Himalayan cryosphere, strengthening scientific research, building early-warning systems, developing resilient infrastructure and financing climate adaptation.

The Bhote Koshi-Kerung disaster has also highlighted the need for more institutionalized Nepal-China cooperation on Himalayan disaster management. Cross-border early warning, glacier and glacial lake monitoring, geological risk assessment, shared data systems, specialized rescue capacity and emergency logistics could all form part of a longer-term framework.

The broader message of the disaster is that Himalayan hazards do not stop at national borders, and effective responses cannot remain confined within them. If the practical cooperation already demonstrated by Nepal and China is expanded into sustained scientific collaboration, climate justice advocacy and a shared Himalayan security framework, it could become an important new dimension of bilateral relations.