The dilemma of whether to sign the Belt and Road Initiative Implementation Plan during Prime Minister KP Oli’s next trip to China still exists. The Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML, the two main government parties, continue to disagree on a number of the implementation plan’s recommendations.
Besides holding regular communications with Prime Minister Oli and senior UML leaders, Chinese Ambassador Chen Song has intensified diplomatic lobbying within the Nepali Congress in order to drum up support for the signing of the implementation plan during Oli’s visit, which is scheduled for the first week of December. An official announcement of the visit, however, is yet to be made.
Recently, according to Congress leaders, the Chinese envoy has met Congress Vice President Purna Bahadur Khadka, senior leaders Shekhar Koirala, Bimalendra Nidhi, and Minendra Rijal, among others, to get the desired support. Oli and his party have expressed their intent to sign the BRI implementation plan, but the Congress remains wary about signing such a document. The party, however, recognises the BRI and is keen to develop connectivity and infrastructure projects on a project-by-project basis.
During his first visit to China in 2018, Prime Minister Oli had proposed 35 projects under the BRI and these were later whittled down to nine at China’s request, an office bearer of the Nepali Congress said. “We want to follow the same modality of negotiating individual projects under the BRI, and the investment model should be decided through such negotiations,” he said.
Congress General Secretary Gagan Thapa said the party’s position on BRI projects is clear. “Be it a loan or a grant, we prefer negotiating individual projects with China.” Several Congress leaders familiar with the BRI implementation plan document have said that Nepal should not sign any document with broader strategic and geopolitical implications.
The draft of the BRI implementation plan seen by the Post reads: “As per the understanding reached during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Nepal in October 2021, the two sides decided to, on the basis of the five principles of peaceful coexistence, the UN charter and principles of good neighbourliness, elevate Nepal-China Comprehensive Partnership of Cooperation Featuring Ever-lasting Friendship to Strategic Partnership of Cooperation Featuring Ever-lasting Friendship for Development and Prosperity.”
The draft document further says “the two sides also decided to strengthen the all-round cooperation and promote the overall development of the bilateral relations and based on consensus reached at the highest political level.” Prime Minister Oli and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba met on Monday to discuss the BRI implementation plan before giving their final word to the Chinese side. Under the “cooperation principles” in the draft agreement, the Chinese side has proposed joint consultation for common development where both sides will uphold the spirit of the Silk Road, respect each other’s sovereignty and core national interests, and work together to improve people’s livelihoods through mutually beneficial cooperation.
The Chinese side has proposed several initiatives under the subtitles “pragmatic cooperation for meaningful effects” and “market orientation with government guidance” and offered to jointly develop the Trans-Himalayan Multi Dimensional Connectivity Network through the construction of ports, roads (including bridges and tunnels), railways, aviation infrastructure, telecom projects, and electricity transmission lines.
“The two sides will utilise existing China-Nepal intergovernmental consultation and cooperation mechanisms for advancing cooperation under the BRI, and carry out the China-Nepal cross border railway project, including tunnels along the roads (Kerung-Kathmandu) after the accomplishment of feasibility study,” the Chinese proposal reads.
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