BEIJING, - Notwithstanding its seeming disadvantage in size and level of economic development, Nepal holds strategic interest for China’s security and larger South Asia policy-objectives, according to Chinese officials and scholars.
It figures in China’s strategic configuration in three terms—volatile Tibet, stable Nepal-China border and challenges and prospects of Nepal-India ties, according to Hua Han of the School of International Studies at Peking University.
The Tibet angle
Tibet continues to be a major strategic concern for China in Nepal, though China’s strategic priority has been the eastern seaboard, especially the Taiwan Strait since the inception of People’s Republic of China in 1949.
Unsurprisingly, China continues to follow activities in Nepal closely given Nepal’s geographic adjacency to Tibet and presence of sizeable Tibetan community. Chinese officials are well aware of the fact that in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics in 2008, Kathmandu became the hotbed of anti-China protests, perhaps the biggest concentration of such activities anywhere in the world.
“The problem of separatism in Tibet has loomed large in the policy-making process of Chinese leadership,” observes Han in her paper outlining strategic dimension of Nepal-China ties.
In interviews here with Chinese officials and academics, there’s a common refrain: “The separatist movement of Tibet” and Nepal’s importance therein. Officials, however, also point out that they are satisfied with the firm backing for one-China policy from successive governments in Nepal.
“We do oppose Dalai Lama’s activities to separate Tibet from China,” says Ai Ping, Vice-Minister of Communist Party of China (CPC) and the ruling party’s point person on Nepal and South Asia. “We appreciate efforts made by all Nepal governments who continue to uphold one-China policy. The two sides are satisfied with present levels of cooperation.”
Sharing a border
If Tibet has been a source of constant concern for China, Chinese analysts stress on the “tranquility of south-western border with Nepal” since the boundary treaty was signed in 1961. This means a lot to China, whose top priority will remain economic modernisation for at least another decade, if not longer.
The first 20 years of the 21st century is seen as the strategic opportunity for China to become a ‘well-off’ society (xiao kang she hui) by the middle of the century. Its focus will be on economic growth and ‘a peaceful periphery’ through ‘good neighbourhood policy,’ as Han of Peking University observes. “Nepal, as the friendly neighbour in China’s southwestern belly, would continue to be strategically salient for Beijing.”
From the Chinese perspective, ‘tranquility of south-western border’ is especially important in view of the fact that it shares long-time border dispute with other neighbours, including with India.
“Though there were not many exchanges between Nepal and China in the 50s, the ties were always harmonious,” says Wang Hong Wei of the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and a leading Chinese expert on Nepal.
“In the 1960s, Chairman Mao and Prime Minister Zhao Enlai attached huge importance to Nepal. They addressed Nepal issues themselves, not through lower officials,” says Professor Wang, as he is fondly addressed here in the Nepal-related fraternity. He led the first non-VVIP Chinese delegation to Nepal in 1963 when he was invited by king Mahendra to attend a convention on arts and literature.
“In the 60s, Nepal and China quickly resolved outstanding border issues,” he recalls, “and in so doing, set an example of how border disputes could be resolved speedily and amicably.”
After Prime Minister Bishweshwor Prasad Koirala visited China in March 1960, Premier Zhao Enlai made a quick follow-up visit the next month when the two premiers signed the Nepal-China Treaty of Peace and Friendship in Kathmandu. A year later, in October 1961, king Mahendra and President Liu Shaoqi signed
the Nepal-China Boundary Treaty, a detailed document delineating Nepal-China border from Mahakali to Mechi.
Regional geo-politics China’s South Asia policy is part of its general neighbourhood policy where economic development and social stability is the cornerstone. “As China rejuvenates, we wish to catch up,” says Vice-Minister Ping, the CPC point person on South Asia and South East Asia. “Economic development is our top priority. China’s foreign policy is a supporting arm of that policy.”
China believes a stable Nepal, and a stable South Asia, will be in its interest as it continues its rejuvenation, a term much in vogue in China to describe its recent economic surge to be a world power and possibly a dominant power of the 21st century.
Across the board, Chinese officials and academics stress that they are happy with the current level of cooperation with Nepal but that they would like to see it deepen further, especially in economic terms. A prosperous and stable Nepal and South Asia, they add, is very much in China’s interest.
Clearly, India remains an important factor in China’s strategic partnership with Nepal and its South Asia policy. “Being a small state wedged between China and India,” observes Han, the Peking University scholar, “Nepal has long been treated as a buffer zone for China and India.” Yet for the Chinese, developing cooperative relations with Nepal is normal and non-objectionable, she adds. The better and closer ties with China and India would be vital for Kathmandu to reach its goals for faster economic growth.
This is especially true for recent times as China’s own bilateral trade with India grows to great heights approaching a 100 billion-dollar mark, making the Sino-India trade one of the world’s most important business ties.
“Unlike in the Cold War era,” observes Han, “the cooperative relations, rather than competitive relations, between Beijing and New Delhi, may benefit Nepal more.” Towards that end, suggest Chinese scholars and officials, Nepal could be developed as a transit point for the economic activities between two of the world’s fastest growing big economies.
