On the morning of August 26, an ice-rock avalanche occurred on the northern slope of Mount Langtang Lirung in Nepal, scouring the mountainside and triggering a massive debris flow which surged about 22 kilometers before reaching Gyirong Port in Gyirong County, Xigaze, Xizang, leaving the area largely flattened. 

Following the disaster, China mobilized rescue forces from across the country, with professional rescue teams quickly moving in to carry out emergency response and search-and-rescue operations. At the same time, China provided assistance to Nepal at the earliest opportunity, urgently dispatching five tunnel experts by helicopter to the disaster area in Nepal to assist with tunnel rescue operations, followed by another four experts. 

Yet as China and Nepal were pulling together to respond to the disaster, some overseas media outlets could not wait to launch a wave of finger-pointing. The Wall Street Journal questioned whether China could have issued an earlier warning to Nepal and discussed glacier melting in connection with construction along the Chinese border. The New York Times highlighted the increase in roads, ports and settlements along the China-Nepal border, suggesting that such development had increased the risks. CNN reported that rescue operations near Gyirong Port had been suspended over concerns about secondary disasters. Indian media outlet Firstpost amplified claims that China had failed to issue a timely warning. The EurAsian Times questioned China’s transparency in sharing hydrological data across borders. News18, meanwhile, raised questions about whether China’s border projects were putting South Asia at risk. 

More troublingly, some pro-independence media outlets in Taiwan have sought to distort the facts, portraying the natural disaster as a man-made tragedy allegedly caused by China. They have also spread a range of conspiracy theories and false information, while using the disaster to promote separatist narratives and calls for “Tibet independence.” 

In the international media landscape, there have also been objective and influential voices seeking to present the facts as they are. The South China Morning Post reported that scientists had yet to determine the exact cause of the glacier collapse, but that this had not stopped a torrent of anti-China misinformation from spreading. The Rising Nepal pushed back against attempts to politicize the disaster, noting that the evidence available pointed to a natural cryospheric disaster rather than the collapse of a Chinese dam. It also warned that the glacier collapse was being turned into what was portrayed as “evidence against China.” France’s 20 Minutes ran a report on August 28 under the headline No, China Is Not Responsible for Nepal’s Deadly Mudslide, citing scientists as saying that the disaster was a completely natural phenomenon and that satellite and seismic data confirmed that the source was an ice-rock collapse in Nepal. 

These objective voices from different countries stand in stark contrast to the smears by certain forces that are eager to put China “on trial.” Facts will ultimately speak for themselves. China and Nepal are linked by mountains and rivers and share close ties as neighbors. In the face of a natural disaster, the only right course is to work together to overcome the difficulties. That is the best way to honor those who lost their lives and the greatest responsibility we can show to those who survive.