By Our Reporter

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is flying to China on an official visit next month after his attempt to visit India failed.

As PM Oli is visiting China prior to India, which is a breach of tradition, his proposed visit has been one of the much-talked-about issues in Nepal.  When the government has not made public the agenda the PM will discuss in China, nor has he held any consultation with diplomats and experts by the time this story was prepared. Yes, he has discussed the issue in his party and with the representatives of the Chinese companies in Nepal.

Instead, his visit has also been dragged into controversy by Maoist Chairman and former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. In an interview with ‘The Hindu’ an Indian English daily, on November 14, Dahal said that PM Oli was trying to use a ‘China Card’ and labelled the proposed China visit as a ‘proof of immaturity’.

A former Prime Minister should not have made such a comment on the foreign affairs issue. Prime Minister’s party CPN-UML has condemned the comments of Dahal by issuing a statement in English language stating that  Dahal’s remarks were baseless, irresponsible, and deeply damaging to Nepal’s sovereign image and foreign policy.

Although it is unfortunate that Nepali leaders lack uniform views on the country’s foreign policy and the country’s performance in the diplomatic sectors has been weak over the years, the comments also reveal the enmity between the chairmen of the two communist parties of Nepal.

As the date for the visit is nearing, it is not still clear what issues the Prime Minister will discuss with the Chinese leaders. It has already been seven years since Nepal inked the BRI with China, but no project under it has been implemented. Even the agreements inked during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s  Nepal visit in October 2019 have not come into effect. As such, PM Oli may ink further agreements to push forward the projects under the several agreements. However, the ruling Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML have not developed uniform views on implementing the projects with NC outright rejecting to build projects with loans from China. NC wants only grants, and the government in which the Finance Minister was from the NC, could do nothing to initiate any process to implement any BRI projects. Now Oli has formed a high-level political mechanism before his China visit and Foreign Minister Arzu Rana, who is the wife of NC chief Sher Bahadur Deuba, is given the responsibility of making preparations for his visit. Still, it is uncertain what issues he will discuss and what projects he will bring from the northern neighbour. Earlier, former Foreign Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha had made preparations to implement the BRI project, but the government collapsed.  As the present government is a coalition of NC and UML, PM Oli cannot do anything going against NC, which is against taking loans from China under BRI. Therefore, it is not sure whether PM Oli’s visit to China will be successful in convincing the Chinese establishment.

Source : https://www.peoplesreview.com.np/2024/11/20/pm-olis-china-visit-much-talks-but-unclear-agendas/