{"id":53328,"date":"2019-10-22T19:00:54","date_gmt":"2019-10-22T13:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?p=53328"},"modified":"2019-10-22T16:15:51","modified_gmt":"2019-10-22T10:45:51","slug":"7-pm-a-more-equal-friendship-22nd-october-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-a-more-equal-friendship-22nd-october-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"7 PM | A more equal friendship | 22nd October, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Context:\n<\/strong>Changing dynamic between\nIndia, China and Nepal.<strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>More\nin news:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The Chinese President Xi Jinping visited\nKathmandu on his return trip from India on October 12 and 13, 2019. <\/li><li>Xi stated that Nepal and China are\nstrategic partners. However until now, only India was regarded as Nepal\u2019s\nstrategic partner. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Nepal:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Locked between Tibet and the Gangetic\nplain, Nepal has close civilization ties with both China and India.<\/li><li>Prithvi Narayan Shah, who unified Nepal at\nthe end of the 18th century, famously described Nepal\u2019s strategic condition as\na \u201cyam between two rocks\u201d.<\/li><li>Political evolution of Nepal is a balance\nbetween Tibet and the Qing Empire in the north and British Raj in the south.<\/li><li>By mid 19th century southern influence\ngained dominance.<\/li><li>When the People\u2019s Republic of China gained\ncontrol of Tibet in 1950, Nepal\u2019s monarchy that was frightened by the communist\nthreat.<\/li><li>This brought India and Nepal close. Both\nthe countries signed Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Foundation\nof Modern India and Nepal relations:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Under the provisions of this Friendship Treaty, the Nepali citizens have enjoyed certain advantages in India, availing facilities and opportunities at par with Indian citizens.<\/li><li>Articles 5, 6 and 7 of the treaty were the key components of the treaty. <ul><li>Article 5 allowed Nepal access to weaponry from India. <\/li><li>Article 6 established national treatment for both Indian and Nepalese businesses.<\/li><li>Article 7 established reciprocal treatment of Indian and Nepali citizens in the two countries, in residence, property, business and movement.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Emergence\nof China between India and Nepal:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The 1960s would mark the beginning of\nNepal balancing its relations with both India and China.<\/li><li>In 1961, Nepal&nbsp;signed&nbsp;a border\ntreaty and also agreed to the building of a highway route that would connect\nwith China. <\/li><li>However post the 1962 war between India\nand China, Nepal signed a \u2018secret\u2019 agreement with India that allowed Nepal to\nonly import arms from India in 1965.<\/li><li>Multiple Trade and Transit Treaties were\nsigned between India and Nepal as trade ties strengthened between the two\ncountries in the 1970s and the 1980s. The first being in&nbsp;1971, and\nin&nbsp;1978.<\/li><li>While on the China front, Nepal would not\nsee any significant developments in the 1970s, or the early 1980s.<\/li><li>In 1989, Nepal failed to negotiate a new\ntrade treaty and the purchase of weaponry from China which lead to the\nexpiration of vital trade and transit of goods treaties between India and Nepal.\nThis in turn placed massive strain on Nepal economy. This resulted in the\nrestoration of the parliamentary democracy in Nepal in 1990.<\/li><li>China\u2019s dramatic rise in the 21st century\nmakes Beijing a far more compelling partner for Kathmandu.<\/li><li>India\u2019s failure was not in an over-reliance\non geopolitics, but the neglect of geoeconomics.<\/li><li>Though India remains the largest foreign\ninvestor in Nepal, is providing aid and is jointly constructing hydel power\nprojects with Nepal, with the extension of a $1 billion credit line, yet China\nmaintains relation with Nepal.<\/li><li>China too has made recent efforts to\nmaintain a presence in Nepal, with investment in the&nbsp;Araniko\nHighway&nbsp;that connects Kathmandu with the Nepal-China border and\nfacilitates easier trade and movement of goods between the two countries.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Recent\ndevelopments:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>With Madhesi crisis, the relation between\nIndia and Nepal is bit strained. This made Nepal tilted towards China.<\/li><li>Nepal supports Belt and Road Initiative\n(BRI). The country signed BRI in 2017. Under BRI, Nepal agreed to work on $2.75\nbillion trans-Himalayan connectivity network for the construction of road\ntunnel along the road from Jilong\/Keyrung to Kathmandu and also for conducting\na feasibility study for the construction of railway line.&nbsp;<\/li><li>China did not succeed in its attempt to\npursue Nepal to sign the Treaty of Extradition, but it gained mileage by\nsigning the Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, which is\nregarded as a precursor to Treaty of Extradition.<\/li><li>While India still struggles with its project\nimplementation backlogs.<\/li><li>The recent visit of Chinese President Xi\nJinping resulted in about 20 agreements between Nepal and China. Though it is\nvery difficult to pinpoint as to what is that Nepal gained from the 20\nagreements made with China. Both the railway and the roadway connectivity\nbetween the Chinese border and Kathmandu provide the upper hand to China.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Way\nforward for India:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It is time stop whining about China\u2019s\ngrowing presence in Nepal or lamenting the loss of much-vaunted primacy in\nNepal. The protectorate relationship that Delhi inherited from the Raj was\nnever sustainable.<\/li><li>India must work towards faster\nimplementation of the development projects in Nepal.<\/li><li>India should counter Chinese hard power by\nprojecting soft power. In contrast to China\u2019s efforts to muscle its way into\nNepal, India should emphasize on its historically close cultural, religious,\nand people-to-people relations with Nepal.<\/li><li>India needs to change its Big Brother\nattitude towards Nepal.<\/li><li>The best corrective India can offer is a\nnew compact with Nepal that can build on the natural geographic and cultural\ninterdependence between the two nations. This time around it must be based on\nsovereign equality and mutual benefit.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source:\n<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/opinion\/columns\/xi-jinping-nepal-visit-narendra-modi-xi-summit-india-nepal-relations-6080914\/\">https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/opinion\/columns\/xi-jinping-nepal-visit-narendra-modi-xi-summit-india-nepal-relations-6080914\/<\/a><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context: Changing dynamic between India, China and Nepal. More in news: The Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Kathmandu on his return trip from India on October 12 and 13, 2019. Xi stated that Nepal and China are strategic partners. However until now, only India was regarded as Nepal\u2019s strategic partner. Nepal: Locked between Tibet and&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-a-more-equal-friendship-22nd-october-2019\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">7 PM | A more equal friendship | 22nd October, 2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":49370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-7-pm","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/7-PM.png?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704764615},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53328","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\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}