A Chinese survey team reached Mount Everest on Wednesday to measure the exact height of the world's tallest mountain.
Ambassador Hou Yanqi, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Nepal, posted this on Twitter stating, "Congratulations to both Chinese and Nepali teams for successfully reaching the summit of Mt. Zhumulangma/Sagarmatha, the eternal symbol of the friendship between China and Nepal. Both countries will jointly announce the height later," according to the joint statement.
Last year, the two countries had agreed to re-measure the Everest jointly. Mount Everest is located at the border between the two countries.
When Chinese President Xi Jinping had visited Nepal in October in 2019, an agreement on joint peak measurement was reached on October 12 and 13.
India had also expressed its willingness in 2017 to assist Nepal in accurately measuring Everest's height. As of now, the world knows Everest's height as 8,848 meters.
Way back in 1961, the two countries settled their border disputes and agreed that the boundary line passes through the summit of Mount Everest.
China states that the height of Mount Everest is 8844.43 meters and Nepal states exactly four meters less than this. It was on May 1 when China started a new survey to measure Everest's altitude.
A report stated that after summiting, team members started erecting a survey marker on Everest, which measures less than 20 square meters.
In 1975 and 2005, Chinese surveyors released the height of the peak as 8,848.13 meters and 8,844.43 meters, respectively, after they conducted six rounds of scaled measurement and scientific research.
International climbers however use Tibet's side to scale Mount Everest as China has an enhanced infrastructure as compared to that of Nepal. As a precaution against coronavirus, China had closed Qomolangma National Park in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous region and reopened it on May 1.
It should be noted that Huawei, which is a Chinese firm, is working closely with China to build two 5G stations on Mount Everest. On May 1 it was reported that if this happens then the installations will be the world's highest 5G base station.
