Nepal seeks strong economic ties with China (Second Lead)

LHASA - With bilateral trade topping $304 million in the first 10 months of this year, the visiting Nepali prime minister will push for stronger economic cooperation with China when he meets his Chinese counterpart in Beijing.

China-Nepal trade was worth $304 million in the first 10 months of 2009, with border trade accounting for over 70 percent.

Nepal’s Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal arrived here Saturday afternoon as part of a six-day visit to China. This was his first official visit to the country since he became prime minister of the Himalayan nation in May this year, Xinhua reported.

Agreements for economic cooperation to the tune of 15 billion yuan (about $2 billion) are expected to be signed, while Nepal will urge Beijing to help build a hydropower project and a highway. He will also speak on Sino-Nepali relations at Tsinghua University.

Nepal is accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala, Finance Minister Surendra Pandey and Energy Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat.

Besides Lhasa, capital of southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, Nepal will also visit Xi’an, Beijing and Shanghai.

Nepal is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao, President Hu Jintao and top legislator Wu Bangguo in Beijing.

Nepal expressed hope that this visit would help cement bilateral ties. He said his country would adhere to the one-China policy, and would not allow anyone to use its territory for anti-China activities. China shares a 1,400-km-long border with Nepal.

Before his departure, Nepal told journalists at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu that the goodwill visit is expected to create a new high in economic cooperation and push technical cooperation.

The premier also met representatives of the 25 parties in parliament to brief them about the visit.

Pashupati Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, leader of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, said after the meeting that Nepal would be pledging the republic’s commitment to the One China policy that regards Tibet and Taiwan to be integral parts of the communist republic.

Nepal’s soil will never be allowed to be used for anti-China activities, Rana said.

The parties, in turn, have urged the prime minister to seek the help of China, the chair of the UN Security Council, to help in the country’s ongoing peace process.

The underlying political and diplomatic reason behind the visit seems to be to indicate to Beijing - and the world - that the feud between the ruling parties and the Maoists, who began new protests from Christmas Day, is nearing reconciliation and the new constitution would be enforced as per schedule by May.

It is also intended to demonstrate to the Maoists the ruling parties’ proximity to Beijing.

Nepal’s predecessor, former Maoist prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, created a controversy last year when he chose to visit Beijing first instead of New Delhi, that used to be the first destination abroad for Nepal’s premiers.

Prachanda later said the move angered India.

After quitting the prime ministerial post, Prachanda again visited China in October this year.

Nepal left the country at a time there is increasing political turmoil, insecurity and a series of crises.

The Maoists have given the government a month’s time to meet their demands or face an indefinite general strike from Jan 24.

The coalition government is facing a power and fuel crisis and there is increasing violence in the Terai plains in the south, along the India-Nepal border.

The China visit is being watched closely by the Maoists, who have dismissed Nepal’s visit to India earlier this year as a failure.

Ma Jiali, a Chinese expert on South Asia issues, said the one-China policy was an essential point of Nepal’s foreign policy.

He said Nepal’s visit to Tibet was intended to promote stability in the border areas and enhance economic and trade links between the two countries. Nepal will also seek Chinese support in the infrastructure and energy sectors during his China visit, Ma said.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Beijing’s policy was to consolidate and develop friendly relations with Nepal on the basis of peaceful coexistence.