Nepal’s relations with China have always lagged behind ties with India, for cultural, political, and geographical reasons.
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The Nepal government blames the blockade on India. However, Kathmandu-New Delhi relations took a major hit when trade with India was effectively halted previous year, in the wake of protests over Nepal’s new constitution.
At the same time, it said, India should not treat Nepal as its “vassal state” and allow Kathmandu to choose its development partners. The problem, of course, is that Nepal may not see itself as that link, while Beijing, in practice, is unlikely to savour the prospect of opening up the Tibetan entry route to foreigners. Xi said he wanted to speed up efforts for establishment of a China-Nepal free trade area, and boost cooperation on connectivity, energy, post-earthquake reconstruction and industrial capacity. Nepal shares its northern border with China, but the Chinese mainland remains far away.
He said that Prime Minister KP Oli was satisfied with his India-visit last month and claimed that more was achieved during the visit than Oli had expected. One must remember that following our Independence, our foreign policy makers have followed a path of trying not to force Nepal to look to China.
By 2020, China plans to extend the high-elevation Qinghai-Tibet Railway to Gyirong, which borders Nepal. “Being the immediate neighbor of China, Nepal’s gain from this initiative will be remarkable”, he said in a speech at Renmin University in Beijing.
During the talks, the two Prime Ministers made a comprehensive review of bilateral relations and expressed satisfaction over steadily growing relations between the two countries.
Nepal’s ambassador to China, Mahesh Maskey, too mentioned India in an interview with the state media. “We believe that far in the future the two countries will be connected by rail”, she said.
Other deals could have a more immediate impact.
China extended Nepal a US$216 million soft loan through Chinese Exim Bank to help it build its second global airport in the western resort city of Pokhara, while it agreed to assist in installing solar lights in 32,000 Nepali households and to explore cooking gas and fuel reserves in Nepal.
Nepal could also attract a lot of tourists from China, Oli added.
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Nepal’s Foreign Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi and the SCO General Secretary Rashid K. Alimov had signed the agreement while Nepal Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Kamal Thapa, Ministers for Commerce and Education Deepak Bohara and Giriraj Mani Pokharel respectively, Secretaries and other members of the delegation witnessed the event.
