The foreign ministry announced Friday that Nepal’s premier will travel to China next month, breaking with the Himalayan republic’s leaders’ custom of making India their first official stop.
Prasad Sharma Khadga Oli, who came back to power in July, is scheduled to go for four days on Tuesday, when he is due to meet with Premier Li Qiang and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Previously, Oli, who is in his third term as prime minister this year, walked a tightrope between Nepal’s two strong neighbours but supported Beijing in an effort to lessen his nation’s long-standing reliance on New Delhi.
“This visit will be focused on implementing earlier agreements that have slowed because of the pandemic and political changes in Nepal,” Pradeep Gyawali, the deputy secretary of Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) told AFP.
Gyawali stated that previous investment agreements, such as the recently completed international airport in Pokhara, a popular tourist destination, will be discussed. There is also talk that the Chinese loan supporting the project could be turned into a grant.
According to Nepali media, Oli probably decided to go to Beijing first as New Delhi had not sent him a formal invitation.
Although India has a greater share of trade and influence, both China and India have influence in Nepal.
According to customs figures, India accounted for around 65 percent of Nepal’s total commerce in the previous fiscal year.
While Chinese firms dominate various industries, such as the electric vehicle market in Nepal, where they hold a 70 percent stake, China’s trade share was only around 15 percent.
India has the highest foreign investment in Nepal, pumping in more than $750 million last year, with China investing more than $250 million, according to Nepal’s central bank.
“Both our neighbours should respect the fact that Nepal does harbour small-state anxieties as a nation sandwiched between two world powers,” Akhilesh Upadhyay of Kathmandu-based think tank IIDS told AFP.
“But our choices should be guided by our national interest. We should not feel caught up in the great-power rivalry.”
