China signed an agreement with Nepal for the utilisation of (Nepali) Rs 15 billion (800 million RMB) for implementation of various projects…reports Asian Lite News
Just ahead of the general election, China signed an agreement with Nepal for the utilisation of (Nepali) Rs 15 billion (800 million RMB) for implementation of various projects. The Nepalese authorities will identify the projects. Nepal will hold its general elections on November 20.
The agreement was signed in Beijing between Bishnu Pukar Shrestha, Nepal’s Ambassador to China, and Luo Zhaohui, Chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA).
“A memorandum of understanding for economic and technical cooperation between the government of Nepal and CIDCA was signed in Beijing today,” Shrestha told the Kathmandu Post. “Now it is up to us to select and execute the projects.”
“Now the government of Nepal should expedite the project selection for their speedy implementation. The assistance amount was supposed to be spent in 2022, but due to a delay in the agreement’s signing, the assistance will be used in the year 2023-24,” said Shrestha.
Beijing made the commitment in August during Nepal’s Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka’s visit to China.
According to the Kathmandu Post, this is in addition to that announced by the Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2019.
Eyebrows were also raised with the Nepal Army abruptly awarding the contract for the sixth package of the Kathmandu-Terai-Madhesh expressway to a Chinese company — China First Highway Engineering Company. The Chinese contractor had been rejected earlier. After being rejected, the company lodged an official complaint with the Public Procurement Monitoring Office (PPMO) which comes under the aegis of the Nepalese Prime Minister’s Office.
Oli’s anti-India rhetoric
Former Prime Minister KP Sharma Olis attempt to rake up Nepali nationalism by raising Kathmandus border row with India is an opportunistic attempt to win the November 20 elections, say Nepal experts.
Khadak Raj Joshi, a leading civil society activist in Sudurpaschim Province told India Narrative that “elections are giving major political parties yet another chance to whip up nationalistic rhetoric. The sovereignty issue is, of course, there. But, it’s more about securing electoral gains on the plank of anti-Indian nationalism”.
Hoping to rouse jingoism, Oli said during his inaugural rally on Friday that “We won’t allow a single inch of our land to be encroached upon. We issued the national map [incorporating the Kalapani area]. The Parliament endorsed it unanimously. I am here to guarantee that [the area returns to Nepal].”
Oli was referring to a map, endorsed by parliament, that he as former Prime Minister had released. It included the area claimed by India as part of Nepal.
Significantly Oli chose the Darchula border area, which includes the contested zone, for his first rally, with a clear aim of striking a strident nationalistic posture, and avoiding bread-and-butter issues that impact the life to regular Nepalese.
But some Nepal watchers are of the view that Oli’s pitch may backfire.
“People know that Kalapani (a point of dispute) is just an election agenda, nothing more than that. So, to my understanding, this Kalapani agenda is not going to be sold out this time.”
“In the last elections, KP Sharma Oli, Deuba and even Prachanda said they would regain territories in Kalapani by holding talks with India if they won elections. See, that did not happen in the past five years when they ruled the country one after another. Now, elections are coming and they are making it an election agenda. Oli told recently that he would work to bring back territories in Kalapani. We can’t trust him at all,” says Krishna Prasad Regmi, a local resident of Dhangadhi, the temporary capital of Nepal’s Sudurpashchim Province.
An article in the Nepali daily Kathmandu Post quoted Uddhab Pyakurel, who teaches political sociology at Kathmandu University, as saying nationalist agenda of that Oli’s CPN-UML party has “become stale now and is not going to pull significant votes for the party”. (with inputs from Santosh Ghimire/India Narratve)