{"id":261839,"date":"2023-09-26T20:07:17","date_gmt":"2023-09-26T14:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=261839"},"modified":"2023-09-27T15:24:25","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T09:54:25","slug":"prachanda-himalayan-xiopolitics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/prachanda-himalayan-xiopolitics\/","title":{"rendered":"Prachanda & Himalayan Xiopolitics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>– The post is based on the article \u201cPrachanda & Himalayan Xiopolitics\u201d <\/strong>published in \u201cThe Times of India\u201d <\/strong>on 26th September 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: <\/strong>GS 2 – Bilateral and regional groupings<\/p>\n

Relevance- <\/strong>India and Nepal bilateral relationship in context of China<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>– Nepal PM Prachanda\u2019s visit to China from September 23 has resulted in numerous commitments and bilateral agreements.<\/p>\n

How has the Chinese approach regarding India and Nepal relationship has undergone transformation?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Earlier approach-<\/strong> Until a decade ago, China was amenable to Nepal’s growing ties with India.<\/strong> China could not provide Nepal with the same level of support and assistance as India could deliver.<\/p>\n

Current approach-<\/strong> China does not want a closer relationship <\/strong>between India and Nepal. The new Chinese ambassador in Kathmandu criticised India-Nepal relations.<\/strong> He has urged the Nepalese to strengthen their ties with China.<\/p>\n

A representative from the Communist Party of China’s politburo attempted to convince the Nepalese government in July 2023 to consider recruiting Gorkhas <\/strong>for the People’s Liberation Army. The Nepalese government firmly rejected this proposal.<\/p>\n

What is the Chinese foreign policy approach towards Nepal?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

China’s earlier objective was primarily security oriented<\/strong>. It aimed to prevent Tibetans from fleeing to Nepal and exert strict control over the Tibetan community in Nepal.<\/p>\n

When Tibetans are apprehended by the Nepalese Armed Police, they are often returned to China and placed in re-education or detention camps. Those reaching the UNHCR office<\/strong> in Kathmandu receive exit permits<\/strong> from Nepal’s immigration department.<\/p>\n

Over 40,000 Tibetans transited through Nepal under a 1990 Gentlemen’s Agreement.<\/strong> China’s demand for the repatriation of Tibetan refugees raises concerns about Nepalese sovereignty.<\/strong><\/p>\n

China has been active in its efforts to unite various communist parties and factions<\/strong> in Nepal. It has financially supported favoured politicians, established Confucius Institutes throughout Nepal, and provided Chinese language teachers to Nepalese schools.<\/p>\n

What are the issues in project implementation by China in Nepal?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The concerning aspects of projects carried out by Chinese firms in Nepal include escalating costs,<\/strong> projects awarded through nomination<\/strong> rather than international and transparent bidding processes,<\/strong> the supply of substandard materials<\/strong>, and the employment of Chinese workers.<\/p>\n

For instance, the Pokhara Airport<\/strong> project ended up costing 85% more than the original estimates. Six Chinese aircraft, including two Xian MA60s and four Harbin Y12s<\/strong>, remain grounded, and Nepal Airlines has been unsuccessful in leasing or selling them.<\/p>\n

Nepal signed the Belt and Road Initiative Framework Agreement <\/strong>with China six years ago. But many projects have not advanced significantly. Notably, the proposed rail link, initially suggested by King Birendra in 1973, has faced delays.<\/p>\n

What is the difference between the Indian and Chinese approach towards Nepal?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Nature of assistance-<\/strong> China provides Nepal with modest grant assistance.<\/strong> The nature of this assistance differs from India’s support. In the fiscal year 2020-21, China provided a grant of $14 million, while India committed grant assistance of $6.32 million during the same period.<\/p>\n

Connectivity-<\/strong> The 2016 Sino-Nepalese transit and transport agreement protocol<\/strong> granted Kathmandu access to seven Chinese sea and land ports for third-country trade.<\/p>\n

However, most of the Nepal’s trade still passes through India. Kolkata and Visakhapatnam ports are significantly closer than Chinese ports.<\/p>\n

In contrast to the open border between India and Nepal and India hosting Nepalese nationals, China maintains a closed northern border <\/strong>with Nepal.<\/p>\n

Project implementation-<\/strong> In 2015, during a disruption in supplies to the Kathmandu Valley, China had promised to step in. However, currently, China’s petroleum supply<\/strong> to Nepal is nonexistent.<\/p>\n

India has implemented a dedicated pipeline system<\/strong> to ensure uninterrupted and timely delivery, and further pipeline construction is underway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source– The post is based on the article \u201cPrachanda & Himalayan Xiopolitics\u201d published in \u201cThe Times of India\u201d on 26th September 2023. Syllabus: GS 2 – Bilateral and regional groupings Relevance- India and Nepal bilateral relationship in context of China News– Nepal PM Prachanda\u2019s visit to China from September 23 has resulted in numerous commitments… Continue reading Prachanda & Himalayan Xiopolitics<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[11872,212,239,10496],"class_list":["post-261839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-9pm-daily-factly","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-international-relations","tag-times-of-india","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261839\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}