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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 9 december 2020
China, Nepal say Everest a bit higher than past measurements

By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA then conducted measure- much about politics as ge-
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) ments in the spring of 2020 ography. China has drawn
— China and Nepal jointly while all other expeditions Nepal ever closer into its
announced a new official were canceled due to the orbit with investments in its
height for Mount Everest on coronavirus pandemic. economy and the building
Tuesday, ending a discrep- Nepal’s climbing commu- of highways, dams, airports
ancy between the two na- nity welcomed the end of and other infrastructure in
tions. confusion over the moun- the impoverished nation.
The new height of the tain’s height.“This is a mile- That appears to serve Chi-
world’s highest peak is stone in mountaineering na’s interests in reducing
8,848.86 meters (29,031.7 history which will finally end the influence of rival India,
feet), which is slightly more the debate over the height with which it shares a dis-
than Nepal’s previous and now the world will puted border, and Nepal’s
measurement and about have one number,” said role as a destination for ref-
four meters (13 feet) higher Santa Bir Lama, president ugee Tibetans. The Xinhua
than China’s. of the Nepal Mountaineer- report said nothing about
Chinese Foreign Minister ing Association. the technical aspects but
Wang Yi and his Nepal- In this May 27, 2020, file photo released by Xinhua News Agency, China’s official Xinhua New heavily emphasized the
ese counterpart, Pradeep members of a Chinese surveying team head for the summit of Agency quoted Xi as say- joint announcement’s geo-
Gyawali, simultaneously Mount Everest, also known locally as Mt. Qomolangma. ing the two sides are com- political weight.
pressed buttons during a Associated Press mitted to jointly protecting China and Nepal will es-
virtual conference and the the environment around tablish an “even closer
new height flashed on the depth on the summit. two countries decided that Everest and cooperating in community of a shared fu-
screen. Chinese President Xi Jin- they should agree on a scientific research. ture to enrich the countries
The height of Everest, ping visited Nepal later that height. For China, the announce- and their peoples,” Xinhua
which is on the border be- year and the leaders of the A survey team from China ment appeared to be as quoted Xi as saying.q
tween China and Nepal,
was agreed on after sur-
veyors from Nepal scaled
the peak in 2019 and a Chi-
nese team did the same in
2020.
There had been debate
over the actual height of
the peak and concern that
it might have shrunk after a
major earthquake in 2015.
The quake killed 9,000 peo-
ple, damaged about 1 mil-
lion structures in Nepal and
triggered an avalanche on
Everest that killed 19 peo-
ple at the base camp.
There was no doubt that
Everest would remain the
highest peak because the
second highest, Mount K2,
is only 8,611 meters (28,244
feet) tall.Everest’s height
was first determined by a
British team around 1856 as
8,842 meters (29,002) feet.
But the most accepted
height has been 8,848 me-
ters (29,028 feet), which
was determined by the Sur-
vey of India in 1954.
In 1999, a National Geo-
graphic Society team us-
ing GPS technology came
up with a height of 8,850
(29,035 feet). A Chinese
team in 2005 said it was
8,844.43 meters (29,009
feet) because it did not in-
clude the snow cap.
A Nepal government team
of climbers and surveyors
scaled Everest in May 2019
and installed GPS and sat-
ellite equipment to mea-
sure the peak and snow