Beijing: China has renovated the historic Dungkar Monastery in Tibet, close to Nathu La border in Sikkim where the Dalai Lama first fled in 1951 when the Chinese troops entered Tibet.

Built in the 16th century, the monastery was damaged in a powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake in 2011, destroying its main hall, religious paintings, pagoda and monks’ residences, reported Economic Times.

“The year-long repair and renovation project started from July last year at the lamasery, situated in southern Tibet’s border region with India and Bhutan,” state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Indian officials said the reference to “southern Tibet” by Xinhua appears to suggest that it is located south of Tibet.

China which has recognised Sikkim as part of India in 2003 refers to Arunachal Pradesh as “Southern Tibet”.

Last month Chinese Ambassador to India, Le Yuchen became the first Chinese to cross through the Nathu La border from Indian side to receive the first batch of Indian pilgrims to Kailash Manasarovar in Tibet.

For the first time, China permitted a batch of Indian journalists to visit the border point from its side to cover the arrival of the Indian pilgrims.

The monastery which is located very close to the Nathu La border providing a picturesque backdrop to the border point, is historically significant as the Dalai Lama fled there when Chinese troops marched into Tibet in 1951.

Built in the 16th century, Dungkar is where the famous official agreement between the Chinese central government and the Dalai Lama was reached after which top Tibetan spiritual leader returned to Tibetan capital Lhasa before fleeing to India in 1959.

The “17-article Agreement” was handed over by Zhang Jingwu, the Chinese government representative, along with a letter from Mao Zedong to the Dalai Lama in Dungkar lamasery.

The 17-article agreement included agreements giving Tibetan people the right of exercising regional autonomy under the unified leadership of the Central People’s Government.

It allowed Tibetan people to enjoy freedom of religious belief and determined the revenue of lamaseries would remain unchanged.