Vice Minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee Guo Yezhou attends a press conference during the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Beijing, China, on 21 October 2017. File photo/Reuters/Jason Lee
By Gopal Sharma | Reuters
KATHMANDU, Nepal, 27 December 2020
A senior Chinese official arrived in Kathmandu on Sunday to assess the political situation, local party officials said, a first diplomatic step by the neighbouring power after Nepal’s Prime Minister dissolved parliament a week ago.
China has poured millions of dollars into Nepal in recent years in the form of aid and infrastructure investment as it incorporates the country in President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative project, which is seen as a new Silk Road.
Guo Yezhou, vice minister in the international department of the Communist Party of China, is the most senior foreign official to visit Nepal since Prime Minister K.P.Sharma Oli decided to dissolve the country’s parliament last Sunday and call for an early parliamentary election.
The move triggered deep political unrest and street protests in the Himalayan nation as it grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, and left the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) on the verge of a split.
“I think the Chinese have come to assess the overall situation after the dissolution of parliament and virtual break-up of the Nepal Communist Party,” said Narayan Khadka, a senior leader of the opposition Nepali Congress party.
The Chinese Embassy in Nepal was not immediately available for comment.
Bishnu Rijal, a central committee member of the NCP, said the Chinese official was expected to meet Oli and his opponents.
Oli has said that internal squabbling and a lack of cooperation from his party paralysed decision-making, forcing him to seek a fresh popular mandate.
China is gradually diminishing Nepal’s sovereignty. Ever since the murder of King Birendra and his family, China supported a communist Movement headed by Prachendra in the name of getting rid of feudalism.
Through the Maoist insurgency, the CCP managed to get their foot in the corridors of Nepali politics. While Prachendra is pro-India, Oli is hand in glove with the Chinese communists. The disunity in the Nepali communist rulers are the reflection of the competing interests of India and China.
The Chinese have pumped lot of money in the name of investment and infrastructure. Now, they are calling the shots in Nepal. Communist China is fishing in troubled waters to wrest Nepal on its side. This is how they gradually take over the reins of power with one stroke of guile and deceit at a time of internal disunity and disruption.
They did the same in Tibet with Reting and Tadrak internal insurrection. China’s ultimate game is to annex Nepal like Tibet by claiming concocted Qing empire claims such as “the war ended in Nepal accepting as tribute state of Qing”. The war was the Tibet-Nepal war of 1788-1792. India should be extremely concerned about Chinese machinations in Nepal and act before Nepal becomes another Tibet.
It is incomprehensible that the Chinese are now meddling in Nepali politics with impunity. The Chinese incursion into Nepali internal affairs is a sign that the Nepali communist Government is now nothing more than an extension of the CCP. It has lost its sovereignty and dignity as a nation and is now hiring the CCP to lead its beleaguered Oli led communist outfit to fulfill the wishes of not the Nepali people but the communist party of China.
India must wake up and support democratic forces in Nepal.