Koirala's policy of 'equidistance'

President of the Nepali congress, Girija Prasad Koirala, apparently has exhibited his interest in expanding his party's relations with the powerful northern neighbor which is a grand departure from the past political overtures of the party he heads. Frankly speaking, the NC headed by Shri Koirala ever exhibited its political inclination towards Indian politics and more often than not facilitated Indian leaders/authorities to poke into the internal affairs of his own country. Whether the NC president is aware of this hard reality or not is not known. However, what is known now is that president Koirala at the fag end of his long political career apparently has understood this fact and thus appears to have decided and that too very strongly that a personality of his political stature should remain above such petty biased politics and allow other neighbors too the same treatments that he had been knowingly or unknowingly extending to Nepal's southern neighbor. The fact is that Koirala possesses all the qualities that are demanded of a regional leader and that he could influence the regional politics should he so desire. Indisputably, he could be the one Nepali leader with such a vast experience of politics whose contributions to democratic ideals remain unchallenged in the region that stretches to six decades plus. However, to attain this Himalayan personality he too has to do the needed homework. At eighty plus, Koirala is still energetic and the energy which he possesses even today should be utilized for nation building in cooperation with his professional colleagues, if need be the monarch as well.

In the process, President Koirala has made some sincere observations while being recently in China in order to assure his Chinese friends, both at the party and the government levels.

Koirala's reiteration that his party would "value" the concerns and genuine political interests of its immediate neighbors must have come as a surprise to the Chinese hosts who have perhaps a different impression about Koirala and the party he heads. Better late than never, the Chinese authorities could now see a genuine friend in Koirala's personality. In saying so, president Koirala also hints the other camp, read India that henceforth his party would treat both India and China on an equal basis, an indication that the movers and shakers in Delhi would not appreciate. Clearly, Koirala's intention is to distance him from the allegation that he was close to India. Is it a sort of policy of maintaining equi-distance in the conduct of relations in between the two giants? Perhaps it is the beginning of the beginning indeed. If it is so then it is not a bad beginning either.

The honest but yet very strong expression that Koirala made in China that his party upholds "one China and Two system principles vis-à-vis the Special Administrative Region, SAR, such as Makau and Hongkong or the autonomous region of Tibet or Taiwan and that his party recognized those territories as integral part of the People's republic of China" should have completely assured Chinese hosts that Koirala is a changed Nepali politician and that now he could be trusted for having stated the established facts.

The fact is that China-Nepal friendship is unique in the sense that it is this neighbor that has never asked for any extra-political gains nor has ever tried to squeeze Nepal as and when certain problems gripped this country. Neither we have border problems nor any political issue that makes us to quarrel. All that China wants from Nepal is its commitment that Nepali soil would not be used against China's declared standpoints. That Koirala has reiterated the same now must assure Chinese leadership. Let's hope that the Chinese leadership takes Koirala's commitments at its face value. That's all.

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