KATHMANDU: Nepal-China relations expert Dr. Rajiv Kumar Jha has said that Nepal has failed to garner broader support from the top Chinese diplomat, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
After visiting Afghanistan and India, Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi arrived in Nepal on Friday for a three-day visit. The visit was expected to be more successful and fruitful, and experts believed that there would be signing of some infrastructure projects under BRI, a flagship program of Chinese government.
But Nepal government found not so much interested on China-funded BRI projects, which covered infrastructure activities including roads, bridges, airports, railways, hydropower generation, among others.
Dr Jha shared that Nepal was unprepared for the visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Yi. During the bilateral talks held between the governments of Nepal and China on Saturday, Dr Jha said that it was unique that there were no projects under BRI plan. Even though the foreign minister Wang Yi had discussed the BRI projects before his arrival in Nepal. He also said that there was a suspicion that the Nepali side did not want to talk about BRI at the moment.
“Nepal has not been able to take advantage of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Nepal,” Dr Jha reiterated. “Nepal’s preparations were not enough or the Nepalese government did not seem to give much importance to Wang Yi’s visit.”
“From what I have heard, Wang Yi was particularly keen to move forward with the agreements reached by the Government of Nepal under BRI, which were agreed during President Xi Jinping’s visit three years back. But I didn’t see any of those projects. The reason was that the Nepali side was not ready” Dr Jha said.
Dr. Jha complained that the Chinese government had paid special attention to the Foreign Minister’s visit to Nepal but Nepal had not shown much interest.
During his stay in Nepal, Foreign Minister Yi called on President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Foreign Minister Dr. Narayan Khadka and held meetings with CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda.
During these meetings, discussions were held on advancing the BRI projects, improving the health, education, employment and economic condition of Nepal, strengthening the borders and opening the border checkpoints. And both sides signed 9-point agreement, in which China promised to increase it’s annual financial support close to NRs 15 billion increasing by three billion.
