Argentine Official’s Claim Blaming China for Nepal Flood Triggers Diplomatic Dispute

BUENOS AIRES — A senior communications official in Argentine President Javier Milei's government has triggered a diplomatic dispute with China after publicly blaming a Chinese state-owned company for a deadly flood disaster in Nepal, prompting a sharp rebuke from the Chinese Embassy in Buenos Aires.

Juan Pablo Carreira, national director of digital communication for the Argentine presidency, wrote on his personal X account on Aug. 30 that a Chinese state-owned company had been building a hydroelectric installation beside a glacier near the Nepal-Tibet border, and that organizational failures in the project had caused the disaster. He went further, linking the incident to other catastrophes he attributed to communist governments throughout history and concluding that "communism kills."

According to reports on the incident, Carreira claimed the collapse, subsequent mudslide and flooding "killed more than 2,500 Nepalese in a matter of seconds." He compared the disaster with other major industrial catastrophes historically associated with communist governance.

"This joins the ranks of the greatest humanitarian disasters caused by the Communist Party's management of industrial activity in history, such as Chernobyl, the Aral Sea, the Great Leap Forward, and the Holodomor," Carreira wrote. "Communism kills. The Communist Party, disguised as a 'businessman,' kills."

The disaster occurred on Aug. 26, when a mass of ice and rock broke away from a glacier front on the northern slopes of Langtang Lirung in Nepal and fell roughly 1,200 meters to the valley floor. The falling material temporarily blocked the Lhende Khola River, forming a lake that later burst through and unleashed a surge of water and mud. The flood swept away the Gyirong border crossing and cascaded down the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli rivers, devastating communities along the border corridor between Nepal and Tibet. As of Tuesday morning, reports indicated the death toll stood at roughly 1,000, with nearly 4,000 people still missing.

China's embassy in Buenos Aires responded forcefully to Carreira's claims, accusing him of spreading malicious rumors and attempting to damage China's international reputation. The statement, issued Monday night Argentine time, described his remarks as ideologically driven and factually baseless.

"A certain Argentine official, driven by biased ideological prejudices, is maliciously spreading rumors to defame the Communist Party of China and tarnish China's international image," the embassy said, urging Carreira to stop speculating and avoid politicizing or instrumentalizing a natural disaster.

The embassy said Chinese and Nepali experts and relevant institutions had jointly investigated the cause of the disaster and determined that it stemmed from a glacier collapse on high ground in Nepal. It characterized the event as a natural disaster rather than the result of infrastructure failure. Separately, the Chinese Embassy in Nepal gave a similar account, saying a seismic tremor on the morning of Aug. 26 triggered a severe snow and rock avalanche on the Nepali side of the border, blocking river flows and sending debris across the border zone.

"Blame solves nothing; cooperation saves lives," the Chinese Embassy in Nepal said, urging governments and commentators to prioritize humanitarian cooperation over assigning fault.

Beyond disputing the factual basis of Carreira's claims, China's embassy warned that politicizing the disaster could damage broader relations and cooperation between China and Argentina. It framed the episode as one with potential diplomatic consequences extending beyond a single official's personal social media comments.

The controversy has also drawn criticism from Argentina's political opposition. Opposition lawmaker Pablo Juliano said the country's foreign policy should not be shaped by government officials' social media activity, and called on President Milei either to remove Carreira from his post or press him to resign. Juliano's criticism reflected broader concerns that, given Carreira's senior position as the presidency's chief digital communications official, his remarks targeting a foreign government could not reasonably be dismissed as merely personal opinions unrelated to official government messaging.

As the controversy mounted, the Argentine government sought to distance itself from Carreira's statements, clarifying that they did not represent the government's official position. The political fallout has nonetheless been difficult to contain, as Carreira has been one of Milei's central online communications figures since the president's election campaign and a consistently vocal public supporter throughout his tenure.

Carreira, reportedly under 30, has been identified as a central figure in Argentina's ultra-libertarian online network known as "Las Fuerzas del Cielo," a group aligned with other prominent pro-Milei online commentators. He has led the government's Digital Communications Directorate since April 2024, establishing a reputation as one of the administration's most vocal and combative online voices.

The dispute comes at a sensitive moment in China-Argentina relations. China remains one of Argentina's most important trading partners despite Milei's history of sharply critical public comments about communism and China since taking office. Tensions between the two countries had already been rising in recent weeks. China's embassy had separately issued statements in the preceding month accusing US Ambassador to Argentina Peter Lamelas of obstructing cooperation between Argentina and China. Earlier in August, an Argentine company negotiating a deal with Chinese technology firm Huawei said it had received notification indicating that the United States was restricting or revoking visas for executives involved in expanding Huawei's operations in Argentina. The Argentine company described the development as an implicit threat against proceeding with the deal.

Scientific analysis and satellite imagery collected in the hours and days following the disaster have pointed to a natural glacier collapse on the Nepali side of the border as the immediate trigger, according to reports on the incident, rather than an infrastructure failure linked to Chinese-operated facilities in the area. The findings undermine the central premise of Carreira's initial social media claims.

As of this report, Milei's government had not announced any personnel action concerning Carreira's continued role in the administration, despite mounting domestic political pressure and ongoing diplomatic friction with Beijing over his remarks. Meanwhile, the broader humanitarian response to the Nepal flood disaster continues separately, with search and recovery operations under way for the thousands of people still reported missing in the affected border region between Nepal and Tibet.

Originally published on ibtimes.com.au