Did China refuse to share data with Nepal?

Did China refuse to share data with Nepal? That is the impression created by a Reuters report and amplified by anti-China influencers who stripped away even more context. The reality is quite different.

According to a source familiar with discussions at China's Ministry of Water Resources, China and Nepal had already been advancing cooperation on cross-border river data sharing before the disaster struck.

• In May, China sent a team of experts to Nepal to discuss Nepal's needs and possible cooperation mechanisms.

• In July, China proposed signing an MoU on flood-data sharing, establishing a joint expert mechanism, conducting regular technical exchanges.

• In August, China also invited Nepali officials to China for further consultations.

When the disaster struck, both China and Nepal suffered devastating losses, with much of the monitoring equipment destroyed.

Yet China responded:

- Chinese hydrologists rushed to the affected area and restored damaged monitoring stations.

- Emergency monitoring and warning systems were established.

- Nepal received five categories of risk information from China every day.

- Nepal later expressed its appreciation through the Chinese embassy in Kathmandu.

The disaster was not a predictable glacial-lake outburst. It was triggered by a sudden ice-and-rock collapse in a remote, high-altitude area.

Disasters must not be ideologicalized or exploited for geopolitical point-scoring. Using a natural catastrophe to sow distrust between two neighboring countries is propaganda at its most cynical.