Want... China is planning to dig a tunnel under Mount Everest to build a high-speed railway line linking Tibet and Nepal, according to the Times of India.
Previously Beijing proposed extending the Qinghai-Lhasa railway to Nepalese border without a tunnel. The railway has now been extended to Shigatze, the second largest city of Tibet which is close to China's border with Nepal.
The tunnel will be very long since the high-speed rail line has to pass through Everest, said railway expert Wang Mengshu cited by the paper, which added that the line to the China-Nepal border will boost trade and tourism.
The extension may be Beijing's attempt to make a short cut into the Indian market and involve Nepal in the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Forum for Regional Cooperation, which New Delhi has been less than enthusiastic about, according to the paper.
The high-speed rail link passing through Mt. Everest will be completed by 2020. Nepalese media cited by China Daily reported that Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, who visited Kathmandu in December, said the project will boost bilateral trade, especially produce, tourism and cultural exchange.
The Indian newspaper, however, said Beijing is trying to stop Tibetans from traveling through Nepal to meet the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala in India's Himachal Pradesh state so China has strengthened its ties with Nepal and increased its annual aid to the country from US$24 million to US$128 million. China has also sought stronger ties with another of India's neighbors, Pakistan. China president Xi Jinping visited Islamabad on Friday and he is expected to sign a contract with the Pakistani government to build a natural gas pipeline to Iran during the visit.