PM’s China Visit Builds Trust

At a time when geopolitical gravity has shifted to Asia, close to Nepal’s neighbourhood, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda concluded his official visit to China. During the visit, China accorded high level of reception and hospitality to the visiting Nepali dignitary. The visit was basically a goodwill one and Prachanda, indeed, tried to build a good rapport with the Chinese leadership, in which he, to a large extent, succeeded.

Ever since Prachanda assumed the premiership December last year, he has been more cautious in handling diplomatic and foreign policy issues with pragmatism. Four powers -- India, China, United States and Europe -- are and should be Nepal’s foreign policy priority. As has been the case with all governments, India has always occupied preeminent place in Nepal’s foreign policy priority. Prime Minister Prachanda’s government, too, is not an exception. Prachanda’s first bilateral foreign trip was India, while he chose China as second bilateral visit. 

Geopolitical reality

Given Nepal’s geopolitical reality, our two immediate neighbours are always in foreign policy priority. India definitely gets greater priority due to Nepal’s geographical compulsion. Geography often dictates foreign policy. Nepal is a landlocked country in principle as it is surrounded by India from East, West and South and by China in the north. But in all practicalities, Nepal is India-locked.  Although Nepal shares border with China in the north, Nepal has limited openings to China in the north due to difficult topography as high Himalayan range stands along the border with China. India is currently the fifth largest economy and is soon going to be third largest. India is already regional power and has the potential of rising as a global power. No country in the world can afford to ignore India. More than that India is an important development partner of Nepal.

China, too, is an important factor in our foreign policy conduct. China is also an important development partner that has immensely contributed to the development of Nepal. China has already risen as a second largest economy and is posed to be the largest one in near future. China is also projected to be a super power capable of challenging the sole super power the United States. Nepal’s both neighbours are rising as global power which is a matter of happiness and opportunity for Nepal.  

United States and Europe are also equally important partners of Nepal. Their support for Nepal’s development has been meaningful. Thus Europe and the United States also occupy important place in our foreign policy. Prime Minister Prachanda knows this reality and has accordingly tried to handle foreign policy accommodating these four important powers. Nepal does not have the luxury of taking side of any one at the expense of others. Our stated foreign policy, too, does not permit to do so. This has been explicitly stated in our constitution.

The non-aligned foreign policy Nepal has adopted seeks to refrain from any kind of military and security alliance. Nepal seeks to build friendly and cooperative relations with all countries irrespective of size and might. But non-alignment does not mean to remain neutral when the international values, laws and principles are at state. There cannot be neutrality between justice and injustice, between truth and falsehood and between peace and war. Nepal always sides with truth, justice and peace. Nepal clearly made its stance clear on Ukraine case and the recent Hamas terrorist attack in Israel. The foreign policy of Nepal is, therefore clear and explicit based on international laws, principles and values. 

In the newer geopolitical reality of 21st century, the United States and China are the principal competitors. While India is US ally in the other regions, South Asia witnesses triangular competition among India, China and the United States. These three powers are scrambling to maintain and strengthen their influence in this region. In this geopolitical push and pull, Nepal has to tread cautiously garnering goodwill from all to protect its national interest.

Prime Minister Prachanda’s China visit comes at this new geopolitical push and pull. The visit had been watched with enthusiasm as well as caution. India and the West were definitely watching cautiously while China appeared a little more enthusiastic as it wanted to sign some concrete agreement under Belt and Road Initiative. India and the US are more concerned about China’s newer concepts like Global Development Initiative (GDI), Global Civilisational Initiative (GCI) and Global Security Initiative (GSI). Prime Minister Prachanda knew it well and did not want to be caught between these geopolitical push and pulls. 

Thus, Prachanda focused more on to implement the already agreed projects between Nepal and China instead of signing new projects. He, accordingly, maintained a good balance among all major three powers and sought good will from all. Prachanda’s China visit has been interpreted from different angles and quarters with varying views which include both criticism as well as applause. Critics are of the view that Prachanda should have flown to China from Kathmandu instead of the United States. 

Achievement 

China and the United States are rivals in the present geopolitical scenario. According to them, since China is Nepal’s next door neighbour, the Prime Minister should not have chosen to fly back to Beijing from the United States, which according to them, is a diplomatic oversight. They also claim that China happened to be Prachanda’s fourth priority. But that is not true. In fact, China visit was Prachanda’s second bilateral visit. The US and Italy trips were not bilateral visits as he visited Italy and the United States to participate in the UN related meetings. China visit was Prime Minister Prachanda’s second bilateral visit. 

So far as the substance and contents are concerned, the joint statement issued at the end of the official visit speaks the importance and achievements of the visit. Nepal and China have agreed to launch several projects, which are in Nepal’s interest. More than that the high level leadership of both the countries have built an atmosphere of trust and goodwill, which will go a long way in enhancing the bilateral relations between the two countries. 

(The author is former ambassador and former chief editor of this daily. lamsalyubanath@gmail.com)