KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 6
Ambassador of China to Nepal Chen Song courted controversy by commenting on Nepal's ties with India and projecting India in bad light.
Chinese Ambassador Chen is perhaps the first ambassador from the northern neighbour trying to create schism in Nepal-India relations by saying Nepal's ties with India was not beneficial for the former.
Nepal and India share unique age-old cultural, religious, linguistic, social, political and economic relations. The two countries also share a long open border facilitating free movement of goods and peoples.
Despite the excellent Nepal-India relations, the Chinese ambassador made undiplomatic remarks at a public programme in Kathmandu on Saturday which was also attended by Speaker Devraj Ghimire.While it is okay for a country's diplomat to speak highly of his country or bilateral relations, it is not befitting for a diplomat to portray the host country's relations with another country in bad light.
China and India have longstanding border disputes and are also rivals for global and regional influence.
Addressing the programme the Chinese ambassador said: "Unfortunately, you have a neighbour like India... while India is a huge market, huge potential you can tap into, at the same time, India's policy towards Nepal and other neighbours is not so friendly and not so beneficial to Nepal. We call that policy constraints."
The ambassador said his country had a solid foundation for development. Almost at the same time, India also opened its door, but we did not see any economic boom in India. Only in recent years have we seen India's economy starting to soar. So that is another misunderstanding about China, he argued.
The Chinese ambassador said: "You know, every Nepalese politician, leader, business people, ordinary people, when I met them, they said we want to export more electricity to India, to China. What is the reality? I want to share with you."
Ambassador Chen said last fiscal year, Nepal exported electricity worth 10 billion rupees to India. "How much did you import from India? My Nepalese friends, you imported electricity worth Rs19 billion from India.You had a deficit in electricity trade, one of the products you are proud of, and you think that will bring you economic independence.
He said that in the first month of this fiscal year, Nepal imported agro products worth 7 billion rupees from India and added, "Multiply this amount by 12."
He suggested that the government prioritise the agriculture sector.
While the Chinese ambassador said Nepal's economic relations with India was not beneficial, he forgot that despite Nepal's request, his country opened the Tatopani border entry point only recently after eight years, and China opened other entry points on piecemeal basis.
Columnist Chandrakishore said the Chinese diplomat's remarks were well thought out policy in which China was not trying to rival India and the US in Nepal but was trying to dominate things in Nepal. He said some Nepali political forces were kowtowing China and that was the main reason for China's aggressive foreign policy in Nepal in recent years.
Political analyst and researcher Bijay Mishra said China was pursuing aggressive policy in Nepal not mainly because of India's influence but because of increased presence of the US in Nepal through the MCC project.He said the Chinese ambassador's remarks on energy trade with India was aimed at preparing a ground for bilateral hydel power trade with China, which China believes could pave the way for it to enter Nepal's hydel power sector. Mishra said energy trade pact could be signed with China when Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal visits the northern neighbour in the third week of September.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 07, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
