Bilateral relationships between China and Nepal are growing friendlier and sweeter after China’s Premier Wen Jiabao, known for his state trips around Asia, visited Nepal and met with top Nepalese government officials in his first visit and the second Chinese state visit of much importance for Nepal since 2001. Wen Jiabao was on his way to an energy summit in the Middle East but took a five hour stop in Nepal where he met with Nepal’s Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai and President Ram Baran Yadav and others.
Talks between Jiabao and his Nepalese counterparts have yielded fruit and further cemented the fact that China is a primary backer and investor of Nepal considering the large construction and other infrastructure projects China helps Nepal with.
With China’s financial aid, Nepal has been working on numerous projects including the construction of highways, airports and even hydropower plants.
Moreover, the Chinese government through Jiabao has promised to give 119 million U.S. dollars in financial aid to Nepal.
Nepalese government officials including Prime Minister Bhattarai expressed their thanks and swore to commit more to maintaining stability within Nepal and cooperating with China on a greater scale in numerous sectors.
Already in return for Chinese aid, the Nepalese government in recent years have been tightening restriction on the thousands of traveling Tibetans who flee their homeland from Chinese repression and towards India where the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan government-in-exile has been residing since 1959.
Moreover, pro-Tibet and pro-Dalai Lama protests have been prevented by Nepalese authorities in the country so that the Chinese government wouldn’t be offended and actually carry fulfills its usual threats against Nepal it usually issues to countries that recognize the Dalai Lama.
(Cover Photo: Binod Joshi /AP Photo)
