China, Nepal Ink Six-Point Pact to Bolster Parliamentary Engagement Under BRI
© AP Photo / Ng Han GuanA man stands near ]a mural depicting the ancient Silk Road during the Second Belt and Road Forum In Beijing on Friday, April 26, 2019
© AP Photo / Ng Han Guan
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Nepal signed onto the Beijing-backed New Silk Road project in 2017. In 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a visit to Kathmandu, during which the two nations elevated their bilateral ties to “strategic partnership of cooperation.” The Communist parties of the two nations also inked a pact to bolster intra-party ties during Xi's visit.
China and Nepal have signed a six-point memorandum of understanding (MoU) to bolster cooperation in legislative and governance practices under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
China's Li Zhanshu, the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China, is leading a 67-member delegation to Kathmandu on a four-day visit that kicked off on Monday. Li is visiting the landlocked Himalayan country at the invitation of Sapkota.
According to a statement from the Nepalese Foreign Ministry, discussions also took place on expanding trade and connectivity infrastructure under the BRI, which was affected due to the onset of the COVID pandemic as Beijing imposed restrictions on the movement of goods and people across the land border as part of its ‘zero-COVID’ policy.
It added that the Chinese side vowed to take measures to address the “widening trade gaps” between the two nations and encourage more businesses to invest in Nepal.
Economic and political ties between China and Nepal have been on the rise since Xi’s visit to the country in 2019. The same year, China overtook India as Kathmandu’s largest source of foreign investment.
The Nepalese speaker expressed support for the One-China Policy during the meeting and said that Kathmandu won’t “allow any activity against China” in Nepal. Li, for his part, expressed support for Kathmandu’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, in view of the ongoing border differences between between Nepal and India
Meanwhile, the Nepalese Parliament this year approved a controversial $500 million Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) pact with the United States. Work on the first project, a power transmission line, under the US-funded program is expected to begin in August next year.
The MCC was opposed by former Nepalese Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, who lost power to the Nepali Congress, headed by current PM Sher Bahadur Deuba last July. Oli heads the Communist Party of Nepal (UML), one of the two factions of the erstwhile ruling party, with the other splinter group headed by yet another PM, Pushpa Kumar Dahal Prachanda.
During his ongoing visit, the Chinese delegate met both Oli and Prachanda.
"The meeting between Mr Li and our chairman KP Sharma Oli was very warm and cordial,” Bishnu Rijal, a Central Committee member of the CPN (UML) told Sputnik.
Rijal said that a “range of issues” were discussed during the meeting, including initiatives to upgrade overall ties as well as party-to-party relations.
The Chinese Ambassador to Nepal last year tried to broker truce between the two warring factions of Nepal’s Communist Party. Li’s visit comes ahead of the general election in Nepal scheduled for 20 November.