Pro-China sentiments can be heard also among the Constitutional fraternity of Nepal.

After hours of brain-storming in Singha Durbar, Nepal’s new Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa left for Delhi and a little later, an electricity outage reminded Nepal of the need to bring an end to the fuel blockade, which is Mr Thapa’s task in Delhi.

But irrespective of Mr. Thapa’s success or failure in Delhi, Nepali diplomats and politicians say that India-Nepal ties are now damaged. Ramesh Nath Pandey, veteran diplomat and one of the longest serving Ministers in Nepal’s history, told The Hindu that the blockade had created a vacuum in the public mind which has been filled by China. “The blockade hurt Nepal’s supply lines but it also removed the visibility of India inside Nepal. Someone had to fill that vacuum that India left. China is now a psychological force in Nepal because of India’s support to the blockade,” Mr. Pandey said.

Pro-China sentiments can be heard also among the Constitutional fraternity of Nepal.

Bipin Adhikari, one of the foremost constitutional lawyers of Nepal, believes that the blockade has ended Nepal’s innocence: “India-Nepal relation is vast and has multiple dimensions. In comparison, Nepal-China ties are small. But after this blockade which has lasted more than two months, Nepal has become aware that it urgently needs an option beyond India. China provides an alternative to India and China has always treated Nepal with respect which is missing in India’s attitude to Kathmandu”.

Sensing the public mood in Nepal, China moved fast and using massive pieces of machinery, cleared the path that connects Nepal with Tibet at the Tatopani crossing. This helped in reducing the sense of despair in Nepal. China has ensured a steady flow of essential commodities through the newly opened passages but has maintained total silence on India-Nepal ties during this period.

Mr. Pandey believes that the blockade is rooted in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “South Asia First” policy. The blockade has conveyed that new reality of Delhi to countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives and others in South Asia which did not comprehend the full extent of the political change in India,” said Mr. Pandey.

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An influential student body in Arunachal Pradesh threatened to take the resort of China in protest against the Supreme Court’s recent judgment for citizenship to the Chakma-Hajong refugees. Talking to reporters in New Delhi on Saturday, AAPSU leader Gumjum Haider said that they would have no option but to take help of foreign country for intervention at a time when China has been claiming the north eastern state.

The apex court last month asked the government to grant citizenship to Chakma and Hajong refugees who had been rehabilitated in the state in 1964-69 after they fled their homes in Bangladesh.

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Nepal’s Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa arrived here today to hold talks with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during which the Indian side is expected to convey its concerns over the continued unrest in the Himalayan nation.

On his first foreign visit after assuming office, Thapa was optimistic about its outcome and had said that it will enhance the relations between the two countries. He is also the country’s Foreign Minister.

“The visit will provide an opportunity to discuss all issues of mutual concern as well as review and further strengthen India-Nepal relations,” Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry Vikas Swarup told reporters here.

During his three-day visit, Thapa will be holding extensive talks with Swaraj.

Thapa is also the coordinator of a three-member team formed by the Nepal government to hold talks with Indian authorities to end blockade of key trade points by Indian- origin Madhesi people who are opposed to splitting the country into seven provinces.

On the supplies of commodities to Nepal from the Indian side which were getting affected due to protests there, the spokesperson said Indian trucks are waiting to enter Nepal, which would happen once the political situation on the Nepal side becomes more conducive.

Noting that a long line of freight trucks were waiting to cross over to Nepal due to the problem of “disruption on the Nepalese side of the border”, he said whenever the disruptions, or protests on the Nepalese side, have slightly eased, “we have tried to send supplies across the border”.

Thapa’s visit comes at a “difficult” time for India and Nepal ties after Kathmandu alleged that New Delhi has imposed an economic blockade on the country following the announcement of its new Constitution, which is being seen as against the interest of Madhesi community living in the Terai region of the Himalayan nation.

India sees no merit in Nepal’s complaints that it was being “choked” and deprived of essential supplies by it. — PTI

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The Madhes-based political parties have been protesting in the South Nepali Terai plains along the Nepal-India border and blockading major entry points since last two months. But India sees no merit in Nepal’s complaints that it was being “choked” and deprived of essential supplies.

Thapa is scheduled to meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar. The home ministry has been repeatedly getting inputs on anti-India activities like movement of Jehadi elements and smuggling of fake Indian currency notes and narcotics along the Nepal border.

In this Wednesday, October, 14, 2015 photo, trucks stand stranded at Birganj, a town on the border with India, Nepal.

In this context, Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli and Thapa have already met Indian ambassador Ranjit Rae and sought Indian cooperation in this respect.

Nepal said Thursday one of its newly appointed deputy premiers, Kamal Thapa, was invited to go to New Delhi on Saturday for talks to resolve the stalemate.

To a question, Swarup stressed that the long queues of freight trucks waiting to cross over to Nepal from India were due to “disruption on the Nepalese side of the border”.

“As far as I know, today the Chinese side through this border has transferred supply of aid goods and materials”, she said without specifying the amount of supplies delivered.

Of the nine crossing points that are capable of crossing commercial cargo, five-six have been in constantly in use throughout, which dispels any kind of theory that there was blockaded, he said.

The border crossing at Jilong, a county in southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, was badly damaged in the massive earthquake in April.

“There are security concerns”, said Indrajit Bose, a senior company official, explaining why the trucks had not crossed the border.

“By 12 noon, 2,500 trucks are still queued up, mainly at Raxaul, where the number is between 1,500-2,000, and Sanauli where number is approximately 750”, he added. Some have been waiting on the Indian side for 45 days.

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The movement of trucks and containers on the Rasuwagadhi-Kerung route resumed today after the route was reopened nearly six months after the devastating earthquake of April 25. Both the trade routes with China via land — Rasuwagadhi-Kerung and Tatopani-Lhasa — were damaged by the massive quake in April and the powerful aftershock on May 12.

“After the maintenance of the customs offices and damaged road sections on both sides, trade with China via land route has officially resumed from today,” said Shiva Prasad Tripathi, undersecretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies.

Though a larger chunk of the trade with China is being carried out through sea route, the reopening of Kerung route is expected to accelerate the movement of vehicles laden with essentials and industrial raw
materials. This might provide some relief to the public as the continuous obstruction in the movement of
vehicles from India to Nepal has created short supply of essentials and industrial raw materials.

Many trucks and containers laden with essential goods were stuck at the Chinese border of Kerung and Lhasa after the earthquake. The Ministry of Commerce and Supplies has said that Tatopani-Lhasa trade route will also reopen very soon. Nepal has already opened the track of the damaged section of Tatopani-Lhasa trading route and maintenance of the road has been accelerated on both Nepal and China side.

A version of this article appears in print on October 16, 2015 of The Himalayan Times.

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Congratulations, to honorable leader Communist Party Nepal United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) Chairman KP Oli, for being the 38th Prime Minister of Nepal, also first PM after the Constitution of Nepal 2015, elected by the Legislature-parliament today (11th october 2015). Mr Oli has 338 votes into his pocket, out of 587. A well over 50 nearing 60 percent of the total vote bank. The wait, I remember, has been a long one for our 38th PM, a lot of things that were not there before, have developed with time and he has not surely earned favor for tomorrow.

In all the desperateness- the kind possessed by possibly politicians everywhere, and playing the cards of National Unity that emanated from the Nationalist public and from support of his hardworking party cadres since a while ago, he surely made success in writing his name in the Nepalese history. However, present and future is what challenges him now. To keep ‘working government functioning’, it takes just more than the PM and his party. There is a sour relation in the canopy and as well as within. Thirty percent of national population holding citizenships of Nepal, stand over at the borders posing a blockade. The canopy, India, in a bid to bring progress in its own land, wants to unburden annoyances of Nepal’s internal politics. India perhaps noticed there is no glamour in Nepal’s internal politics.

The nation, with just 30 million, is reeling through shortage of all sorts of regular life amenities from food, shelter, energy, petroleum at the present and even in the past, recent earthquake added to woes of Nepal. Relations with the International community is as if vinegar is added in their drinks, working relations with United Nations is at record low and as a nation, Nepal has a lot to achieve. Only with the ‘know-how’ from the International institutions, the journey of a stable establishment begins and progresses, to state like Nepal possessing minimal ‘know-how, vision and resources’ for moving forward.

The agreement of the majority discarded to assure a mutually conducive working environment for stable future. The dynamics that CPN-UML will establish in the government may last for a while, say a year or two, as historic trend of Nepali politics, then it is not long for Nepal to witness a 39th Prime Minister and successive digits, within a duration of 5-7 years. In past couple of decades, Nepal has gone through several successive transitions. Multiparty democracy politics(1990s), decade long civil war (1995-2005), peace process (hope), interim constitution (2007-2015), and recently drafted New Constitution of Nepal 2015. Nepal also went on becoming a Hindu state to a secular one, monarchy to republic and more representation of the socially disadvantaged groups. Feats achieved surmount to long working of history.

Albeit, immediate challenges are immense and require cooperation from all the structures well into play in Nepali politics. The alliance of smaller groups led to more representation and stronger influence upon the 30% Madhes inhabitants. This has posed as an obstacle to country’s everyday imports and exports. Beijing , beyond the picturesque mountainous horizon, is unreachable directly through Kathmandu. Both, China and India to some extent have a mutual understanding among one another, and may find good reasons not to get into the issues of tiny nation as Nepal and jeopardize their progressive relations.

It is interesting to further follow the Prime Minister Oli and his governments utility. The protesting Madesh leadership, to some extent, receives sentiments extended by the Indian sides, this must not be tossed out of the table, although officially the Indian government has denied assistance and explicit sentiments. Moreover, a certain Indian community involved in India-Nepal transportation sector is evidently suffering along with medium-sized Indian business community. They have been the victims of the recent political rift in Nepal and perhaps are planning withdrawal for business in Nepal for their betterment. If so happens, Nepal is going to face much harder days to solely function and will eventually paralyzed. This would follow, a historic trend in Nepali internal politics, and change of government to tackle the obstacles, while the functioning of the government will be left to be dealt after the formation of a new, able and stable government, making way for 39th Prime Minister of Nepal.

The writer, a Nepali native, is pursuing MSc Mass Communication at Institute of Communication Studies, University of The Punjab, Lahore

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This article first appeared on the Council on Foreign Relations site.

After a decade, in the 2000s, in which China aggressively pursued warmer relations with many Southeast Asian nations, using a combination of diplomacy, aid and soft power to woo its neighbors, the past five years have seen a significant chill in China–Southeast Asia relations.

FIRST, BEIJING’S MORE AGGRESSIVE PURSUIT OF ITS CLAIMS IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA LED TO HEIGHTENED TENSIONS BETWEEN CHINA AND OTHER CLAIMANTS—MOST NOTABLY VIETNAM AND THE PHILIPPINES, BUT ALSO INCREASINGLY INDONESIA, WHERE THE ARMED FORCES ARE TRYING TO RAPIDLY MODERNIZE JAKARTA’S NAVAL CAPACITY IN PART OUT OF FEAR OF CHINA’S ACTIONS IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA.

However, even as China alienated countries like Vietnam and the Philippines, it had until recently maintained relatively warm relations with several of the other leading Southeast Asian states, including Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia. These countries were either not involved in the South China Sea dispute or, like Malaysia, they had less at stake in the dispute than the Philippines or Vietnam.

Thailand and Malaysia also historically have maintained close links to China for decades. In Myanmar, China’s investment and aid had become so important that, even as Naypyidaw [the Myanmar capital] attempted to boost relations with leading democracies, Myanmar leaders rarely offered public criticism of Beijing. After the May 2014 coup, Thailand’s military leaders apparently came to see the kingdom’s relationship with Beijing as even more important than in the past. Unlike democracies that withheld aid or publicly criticized the Thai junta, Chinese officials offered rhetorical support for the junta government and continued several high-profile joint infrastructure projects.

But even in these countries, leaders and officials have become more willing to openly criticize Chinese foreign policy, as shown by events in Malaysia and Myanmar over the past week.

In Myanmar, where talks over a permanent peace deal between the government and numerous ethnic insurgencies only resulted in a deal involving about half the insurgent armies, government officials this week openly blamed Beijing for meddling in the peace process.

According to Reuters, one of the Myanmar government’s top peace negotiators announced that Chinese officials had tried to persuade several of the most powerful insurgent armies, including the Kachin Independence Organization and United Wa State Army (UWSA), not to sign the peace deal.

Why exactly Beijing would try to get the groups not to sign remains unclear, but Beijing’s relationships with the UWSA and other groups give China a degree of influence over its border region, and perhaps Chinese leaders fear that a peace deal might undermine that influence. (A permanent peace agreement might stabilize the border and reduce the possibility of refugees fleeing into China, to be sure.)

Meanwhile, in Malaysia some senior government officials have lashed out at what they perceive as an inappropriate intervention into domestic politics by China’s ambassador to Kuala Lumpur. As weeks of protests and counterprotests in Kuala Lumpur have taken on a racial tinge, China’s ambassador, Huang Huiking, visited the heart of Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown and warned that China would oppose any efforts by protesters to target any racial or ethnic groups.

“We will not sit by idly” if demonstrators target ethnic Chinese, the ambassador said in a statement. “We sincerely hope that Malaysia will maintain its social stability.”

Although the ambassador’s sentiments were certainly understandable—protests at times had involved ugly anti-Chinese incidents—some nationalist Malay politicians reacted to Huang’s statement with anger. Malaysia’s deputy prime minister, a fierce nationalist, called on Huang to offer an official explanation, or apology, for his statement. The ambassador must “lay to rest claims that the Chinese envoy had intended to interfere in local affairs,” said Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

WILL CHINESE LEADERS NOW RESPOND IN WAYS THAT AMELIORATE CONCERNS ABOUT BEIJING’S FORCEFUL REGIONAL DIPLOMACY? CHINA CAN ILL AFFORD TO ALIENATE SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS LIKE MALAYSIA, WHO HAVE SERVED AS EFFECTIVE MEDIATORS IN THE PAST AND OFTEN SIDED WITH CHINA’S INTERESTS WITHIN THE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS.​

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​London, UK — On the day before China’s President Xi Jinping begins his State Visit to the UK, Fabian Hamilton MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet, will host a ‘Stateless Lunch’ to honour Tibetan, Uyghur and Chinese human rights defenders who have been imprisoned and intimidated by the Chinese government.

Fabian Hamilton MP said, “I am honoured to host Tibetans, Uyghurs and Chinese individuals who will share stories of courage, highlighting the oppression in China today under Xi Jinping.”

“The ‘Stateless Lunch’ is a statement of the concern of so many of us in Britain about this government’s approach to China, which is driven by commercial interests, with human rights being an irritating distraction to be ignored in public,” he added.

“It is in our interests as a country for David Cameron to publicly raise human rights as a priority with Xi Jinping, in the strongest possible terms. Engagement and trade links with China are important, but not at the expense of freedom and democracy,” Hamilton said.

“Since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, China has intensified its abuse of human rights, jailing human rights defenders, increasing censorship, clamping down on free expression and targeting Tibetans, Muslim Uyghurs and Chinese Christians,” the Tibet Society said in a statement on Thursday.

“The increased denial of human rights in China has coincided with deep reluctance of the UK government to challenge China to address sensitive issues such as Tibet. Most recently, Chancellor George Osborne failed to make any statement defending human rights on his recent five-day visit to China and the troubled region of Xinjiang,” it added.

Among the speakers addressing the event will be Fabian Hamilton MP, Human Rights Defenders Rahima Mahmut and Shao Jiang, and David Mepham from UK Human Rights Watch and plus more to be confirmed, the UK based Tibet Society said.

The organiser said “representatives of international and UK-based human rights organisations will be available for interview.”

The Tibet Society recently called on the British Prime Minister, David Cameron to raise the issue of Tibet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which meets the following demands:
• to make a public statement during Xi Jinping’s State Visit which calls on the Chinese government to end the repression in Tibet;
• to call for the release of all Tibetan political prisoners;
• to urge Xi Jinping to enter into an earnest dialogue with representatives of the Tibetan people;
• to insist the Chinese government stops violating human rights.

Event supported by: Free Tibet, Human Rights Watch, International Campaign for Tibet, Students for a Free Tibet, Tibetan Uyghur and Chinese Solidarity UK and Tibet Society.

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This week India and China will start ‘Hand In Hand’, a joint counter-terrorism exercise at Kunming Military Academy, Yunnan. From India, 350 Naga Regiment personnel will join the People’s Liberation Army’s 14th Group Army. The 11-day exercise will focus on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief.

This will be the fifth such exercise in a series started in 2007. The drills are part of confidence-building measures put in place by both countries to address mistrust sprouting from regular standoffs along the disputed Line of Actual Control between India and China.

China, however, is not playing war games with India alone. The Indian media largely missed the story about the recent Sino-Pakistani air exercise, dubbed Shaheen IV. In contrast to its confidence-building engagement with India, China held one the biggest and most complex air exercises inside the Tibet Autonomous Region

As Beijing and Islamabad strengthen their relationship, New Delhi must consider the security implications of a greater Chinese influence in south Asia.

The first Shaheen excercise was held in Pakistan in March 2011 while the second in China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in September 2013. The third episode again was in Pakistan – in its Punjab province – in May last year.

This year, it is Tibet. The location has political signals, given India’s asylum to the Dalai Lama and India’s increasing co-operation in the Indian Ocean Region with the United States, Japan and Australia.

There is little information in the public domain about the type of air exercises that were conducted. According to Pakistani daily ‘Dawn’, three different types of fighter aircraft from Pakistan participated.

There also have been information indicating up to six Pakistan Air force (PAF) squadrons were involved in Shaheen IV. Pakistan reportedly didn’t deploy its US-made F-16s to prevent negative reactions from the United States. The exercises also saw the use of airborne early warning and control aircraft.

The Shaheen exercises have never been on such a scale. It gave the PAF access to Russian-made aircraft similar to the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Sukhoi 30 MKI. Training against Chinese Sukhoi 27 SK and Shenyang J-11 (Chinese-made Sukhoi 27) will help the PAF draw up tactics to effectively counter the IAF’s mainstay Sukhoi 30 MKI.

China’s relation with Pakistan has become one of the most comprehensive one that Beijing has with any country. The strategic imperatives of developing Pakistan as a bulwark against India has been among Beijing’s overriding objectives in influencing the balance of power in South Asia.

China will build 4 submarines in Karachi; is that a ploy to tie Indian Navy to Arabian Sea?

Over the years, China has helped Pakistan enhance its military and nuclear capabilities with the objective of keeping India engaged and focused on threats emanating from Pakistan.

According to recent reports, Beijing will be delivering eight Yuan-class submarine to Pakistan. Four of those will be built in Karachi. As a result, the Indian Navy’s depleted submarine fleet and anti-submarine warfare assets will be further tied down in the Arabian Sea as New Delhi tries to modernize its Navy to be able to check Beijing’s growing penetration of the Indian Ocean Region.

A steady and regular sighting of Chinese submarines in ports surrounding India over the last few years has created a cause for concern in New Delhi.

Chinese exercises with Pakistan aside, Beijing has held exercises with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal at regular intervals in the recent past. China was also Pakistan’s biggest arms supplier between 2010 and 2014, accounting for 51% of Pakistani weapons imports.

It was also the source of 82 percent of Bangladesh’s arms purchases (2009-2013), according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, making Dhaka one of the top three buyers of Chinese weapons in the world. Sri Lanka, too, has been a substantial recipient of Chinese arms, but the conclusion of the civil war in 2009 has reduced this trend.

India’s engagement with the region is pale in comparison. There has been little military-to-military engagement with Bangladesh. Engagements with Sri Lanka and Nepal, too, have been limited in scope and sometimes very infrequent.

Not a single naval exercise was held by Sri Lanka and India for six years (2005-2011) and again none since 2013 due to objections emanating from Tamil Nadu. In contrast to the Indian Navy’s limited engagements with neighbouring countries, its ships have visited more than 40 countries and conducted numerous exercises in the past one year.

This week’s annual Indo-US Malabar naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal has been turned into a trilateral with the inclusion of Japan. However, the reported lack of enthusiasm in increasing the number participating ships and aircraft by the Indian Navy reflects the susceptibility of the Indian establishment to cave in to the prospect of Chinese opposition.

China’s core interests in its military engagement with Pakistan and other South Asian countries are to balance its relations with the United States and India. New Delhi urgently needs to proactively shape its security environment. Military engagements with far flung nations across the globe need to be limited in favour of proactive regional engagements that bear strategic and security dividends.

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KATHMANDU: Nepal’s business community has placed high hopes on the reopening of Nepal-China border ports that were closed after the massive earthquake in April, saying the commencement of trade through the route would boost their confidence and help import essential goods and recover losses.

With Kerung, a major border port in China’s Tibet region, commencing operations from tomorrow, border entrepreneurs are hopeful that the import of Chinese goods would help them recover their losses said Rajesh Kaji Shrestha, President of Nepal Chamber of Commerce and Industries.

“The Re-opening of Kerung check point at Rasuwagadhi in the east of Kathmandu has brought some relief to the traders as it eases the import of essential goods, boosting our confidence in trade,” Shrestha told PTI.

Goods such as clothing, fruits, shoes and electronic items are mainly brought to Kathmandu through the route, according to Shrestha.

More than 400 trucks loaded with various goods have been stranded at Tatopani — the largest Nepal-China border port — for the past six months as the roads on both sides of the border were damaged due to the temblor that hit the country in April.

Shrestha, a former assistant minister for commerce and supplies, advised that opening of more China-Nepal border ports will help ease the situation as businesses have been hit due to the Madhesi-led blockade on India-Nepal border check points in the southern plains.

The Madhesis — Indian-origin inhabitants of the southern plains — and Tharu ethnic groups are protesting for more representation in Nepal’s newly promulgated Constitution. And their protests have hit trade via Indian border check points.

Compared to the port in Kolkata, Kerung is also very much close to Kathmandu, Shrestha pointed out, referring to the cost incurred by traders over transportation.

“The more border ports in mountainous areas, the more will be the trade volume and growth,” Shrestha said.

Nepal can also import sheep and goat from Tibet in the Vijaya Dashami festival, he said.

The border point will take 10-12 days before it gets fully operational, Shrestha added.

The other trade port with China, Tatopani, some 130 kilometres east from Kathmandu, is likely to get operational in two weeks.

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