NATIONAL 5 (Spotlight Weekly)]

Growing Contacts

The visits of King Birendra and the Chinese defence minister will further consolidate the relations between two countries

By KESHAB POUDEL

If the announcement of King Birendra's forthcoming state visit to People's Republic of China is any indication, it shows the growing friendly contacts at the highest level between Nepal and China.

King Birendra with Chinese President Jiang : Strengthening ties

Before the visit of King Birendra, Chinese Defence Minister Chi Haotian is paying a four-day official visit to Nepal which will start from February 21. After Chinese President Jiang Zemin, defence minister is the first high-ranking official to pay official visit to Nepal following the restoration of democracy.

Just a fortnight before the visit, Chinese assistant minister of foreign affairs Wang Yi visited Nepal and signed an agreement to construct an alternative road to link the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. The alternative road will boost Nepal's trade volume with China.

Foreign Minister Chakra Prasad Banstola also paid an official visit to China in July 2000 to mark the 45 years of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In the last few years, there has been frequent exchange of high-level contacts between two countries which has helped to strengthen Nepal-China relations.

Interestingly, no communist party, including CPN-UML, has publicly welcomed the agreement between Nepal and China to build a new road linking the two countries. The road, many analysts say, will provide a boost to Nepal's efforts to consolidate its independence.

Instead, Nepal's communist parties are busy trying to topple the government which has entered into the agreement with the People's Republic of China. Harping on anti-Indian slogans on the Purnagiri Dam issue, the CPN-UML is busy launching an agitation against the government just on the eve of high-level visit.

When Chinese Defense Minister Marshal Chen Yi visited Nepal in 1960, the situation in South Asia was tense. As Nepal lies in a strategically important zone in South Asia, China understands the importance of Nepal's stability to maintain peace in the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Nepal shares a 1,414-km border with the Tibet Autonomous Region of China and one cannot ignore a big potential to tap the Chinese market across the Himalayas.

"The forthcoming visit to People's Republic of China by King Birendra and visit of Chinese defense minister will further strengthen Nepal-China relations," said Yuba Raj Singh Pradhan, former Royal Nepalese Ambassador to China.

"China does not want to bring Nepal into its own influence; what it wants to see is that Nepal remains independent. Because an independent Nepal has its own aspirations and will not be dictated by outside powers against Chinese interests," said Dev Raj Dahal, associate professor at Tribhuvan University's Department of Political Science.

"Nepal has historically been considered by the Chinese strategists as part of a chain of their nation's concentratic inner Asian defense system and even now bears no little importance for the security of its underbelly, Tibet, where a large number of anti-Chinese forces have cornering interests," writes Dahal in his article "Geo-politics of Nepal: Survival Strategies of a Small State".

"Chinese are sensitive to the possibility of Nepal serving as a spring board for Khampa-like anti-Chinese activities that continued until the mid 70s."

"Chinese diplomacy operates on a long-term basis which cannot manifest. Chinese actions can tell the intention," a foreign relations expert said on condition of anonymity. As Nepal's strategic importance is tremendous and it will be an asset for the country but it seems liability to the political leaders."

As the two countries are encouraging the high-level visit between two countries, Nepal-China relations are entering a new phase with an alternative road.