After a two-day Kathmandu trip to firmly promote the Belt-Road Initiative (BRI) in Nepal, Chinese foreign minister and State Councilor Wang Yi is slated to visit India on an “exploratory” mission to boost bilateral relations. Wang Yi is anticipated to visit Nepal on March 26-27 before coming to India.
The real reason for the Chinese foreign minister’s visit, according to diplomats in New Delhi and Kathmandu, is to balance the equations in Kathmandu, with the Sher Bahadur Deuba government ratifying the USD 500 million grant from the US for improving Nepal’s electricity supply and roads on February 27, 2022.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation Nepal Compact award, signed in September 2017, was caught up in Nepal’s Communist-dominated politics, with Beijing adding gasoline to the fire.
The award was approved after the Biden administration put a lot of pressure on Nepal and its erratic lawmakers, setting a deadline of February 28, 2022. Following that, in April 2022, a 25-member US congressional delegation is due in Kathmandu.
As the Himalayan Republic has not cleared even a single project promoted as a vision of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Wang Yi will push the BRI with the Deuba government to counter the rising US influence in Nepal during his visit.
Indo-China Dialogue
The Chinese foreign minister will meet with his Indian colleague, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, as well as National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, who is also his counterpart in the Special Representative Dialogue on Border Resolution.
While the two sides will discuss the Ukraine conflict and its global consequences, it will only make meaningful progress toward the normalization of bilateral relations if the PLA restores the status quo ante in East Ladakh by April 2020.
After the 12th session of India-China military commanders’ talks on July 31, 2021, the last movement on disengagement in East Ladakh took place in the general area Gogra (patrolling point 17A). Hot Springs is 10 KMs from Gogra and 40 km from Patrol Point 15 in the Kongka La region.
The last troop withdrawal in East Ladakh took place following the 12th round of military dialogue on July 31 last year, in which the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) stepped back to regenerate the April 2020 status quo ante including the 597 km LAC in the western region.
The Indian Army and the Chinese PLA have deployed nearly three divisions of troops on opposite sides of the 1597 km Ladakh Line of Actual Control, showing that there has been no de-escalation (LAC).
Edited by – Subbuthai Padma
Published – by Iram Rizvi
