Kathmandu, Aug. 9
Minister
for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Narayan Khadka, left for a 3-day visit to China on
Tuesday.
His
entourage is happening for the first time at the invitation of Wang Yi, State
Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of China, Minister for Foreign
Affairs (MoFA) informed in a statement on Tuesday.
According
to the MoFA, the two ministers will hold delegation-level bilateral talks,
leading their respective delegations on August 10, 2022 in Qingdao, China.
Minister
Wang will host Dr. Khadka and his South Korean counterpart Park Jin on the same
day.
The
high-level visit from Nepal to the northern neighbour is happening for the
first time since the formation of the present government led by Prime Minister
Sher Bahadur Deuba more than a year ago. It coincides with the escalating
tensions between the United States of America and China because of the visit of
the US House Speaker Nanci Pelosi to Taiwan this month.
While
making an announcement about this visit of the Foreign Minister Dr. Khadka, the
MoFA reiterated Nepal's adherence to 'One China Policy' which considers Taiwan
as the part of China. Nepal's government and political leaders have time and
again assured China of this policy.
This
is the first foreign minister level visit from Nepal to China after Nepal
accepted the US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)'s Nepal Compact Project
and rejected the State Partnership Programme (SPP). Both of the them were the
US funded projects where the first is an infrastructure development programme which
has been endorsed by the country while the latter is rejected by the
government.
The
MoFA has maintained that the visit is expected to further strengthen the mutual
trust between the two good neighbours and partners in development.
Earlier,
in March this year, Minister Wang had paid a three-day visit to Nepal and met
President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and leader of
the parties in ruling coalition and opposition.
During
his visit, Nepal and China had signed a nine-point agreement including the
projects such as conducting the feasibility study of cross-border power grid
connection, agreement for economic and technical cooperation for the
feasibility study of inter-country railway project, maintenance of Arniko Highway
(third phase), and cooperation in the railway sector. They have also agreed on
facilitating Nepali products to China and vaccine support.
Nepal
has signed the Belt and Road Initiative – a dream project of Chinese President
Xi Jinping that aims to build regional infrastructure along the ancient Silk
Route to boost trade and development. Nepal wants some large infrastructure
projects such as trans-Himalayan railway project, Kathmandu-Lumbini Railway and
other facilities.
Meanwhile,
Nepal also desperately wants China opening and fully operationalising its
border with Nepal. While imports from China are ever growing, exports have been
continuously diminishing since the advent of COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019.
In
the last Fiscal Year 2021/22, Nepal imported goods worth Rs. 264.78 billion but
the exports were of only Rs. 800 million. Not only the importers but also the
manufacturers that mostly use raw materials from China have been suffering for
the past three years. They want the government to talk to China on this matter
and facilitate the bilateral trade, especially exports.
Published in The Rising Nepal dain 10 August 2022.
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