By Upendra Gautam
China and Nepal have enjoyed close ties for more than 2,000
years. The shared mountains and rivers are manifestations of the
perennial natural links between the two ancient countries. The
intimate bilateral cultural and spiritual links have continuously
been nurtured and promoted by Buddhism, which itself was expounded
by Shakyamuni Gautama Buddha (about 563-483 BC), who was born in
Lumbini, a township in the Rupendehi district of modern day
Nepal.
Master Buddhabhadra (AD 359-429), Princess Bhrikuti (AD 617-649)
and Architect Arniko (1245-1306) from Nepal; and Wenshu
(Manjushri), Master Monks Fa Xian (AD 360-430) and Xuan Zang (AD
602-664), and Tibetan King Srontsan Gampo (AD 617-649) from China
all have contributed to the dissemination of Buddhism in China.
Nepali people, for example, the Kirats and the Newars from the
Arun and Kathmandu Valleys, together with the Lamas and Sherpas
from the high mountain environs, have been conducting social and
trade interactions with Tibet for centuries via the world's highest
mountain passes located along the more than 1,400-km-long
China-Nepal border.
Notwithstanding their ancient ties, the two countries took some
years to duly modernize their state-to-state relationship. And
while planning and conducting their international affairs
independently, both faced foreign interference.
On August 1, 1955, the two signed an agreement establishing
diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level. Probably
reflecting on the situation at that time, on September 30, 1950,
Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai said in his report: "China shall never
tolerate any foreign invasion nor shall it watch it taking place in
any neighboring country with folded arms."
On October 2, 1961, Chinese Vice Premier and Foreign Minister
Chen Yi during a visit to Kathmandu echoed Zhou when he said:
"China will not tolerate any aggression against Nepal by any
country."
Forty-six years later, Zheng Xianglin, the new Chinese
ambassador to Nepal, specifically reconfirmed the intergenerational
continuity in China's anti-foreign invasion and interference policy
towards Nepal in his exclusive interview with a national weekly
(Nepal, June 17, 2007). What serious observers discerned from
Zheng's interview was that there was an expansionist geopolitical
nexus between the activities of splitist Tibetan forces, use of
Nepali territory and China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
It was in this context that Zheng asserted China's long-standing
Nepal policy.
In the competitive 21st century world environment, foreign
invasion and interference has acquired a
political-commercial-information interface with the intricacy of
smart and soft industrial diplomacy. The key operational objective
of a foreign invasion and interference is first to dislocate the
national institutions and its unifying indigenous forces and then
thoroughly destabilize the political processes to control or impair
the target country's national decision-making capability. In the
invasion and interference process, the secondary power at the
regional level lacking self-confidence in conducting an
independent, transparent foreign and defense policy has always been
prone to goad the powers pursuing smart and soft industrial
diplomacy.
As a consequence, Nepal needs China's proactive cooperation for
putting the modern instruments in place to effectively combat
foreign invasion and interference. With the passing of time and
lessons learned, it is commendable that leaderships in both
countries have increasingly started to realize that Sino-Nepali
ties require a more creative and innovative futuristic approach
than a mere qualitative exposition of historical and geographic
ties.
Perhaps fully aware of the imbalance in the existing overall
bilateral relation and its 21st century requirements, then Chinese
President Jiang Zemin enunciated a good neighborly partnership
(GNP) framework for bilateral ties when he visited Nepal in
December 1996. It is significant that Jiang's enunciation of the
GNP framework was made at a time China was planning a West China
Development Strategy (WCDS) covering 12 territorial units of the
country including the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and Sichuan
Province.
The WCDS's positive geopolitical and socio-economic impacts on
the greater Trans-Himalayan region including Nepal, to say the
least, were far-reaching.
On July 1, 2006 - the day the Chinese national railway was
successfully extended to Lhasa, the Tibetan capital and roof of the
world - the Trans-Himalayan region felt such an impact. Under the
WCDS the Chinese government in 2006 alone invested US$20.4 billion
in key transport, communication and energy projects.
Describing the importance of the TAR in the context of the total
scheme of national development in general and the WCDS in
particular, President Hu Jintao, who was then vice-president, on
July 19, 2001, said: "Tibet is in the southwestern frontier of the
motherland, with a vast stretch of land and a most important
strategic position. The development, stability and security of
Tibet have a direct bearing on the fundamental interests of people
of all ethnic groups in Tibet as well as ethnic solidarity,
national unity and state security. It is the common aspiration and
mission of people of all ethnic groups in China, the Tibetan people
included, to build on the prosperity and progress and maintain
stability and solidarity in Tibet."
As a matter of fact the WCDS's forward linkages with Nepal
suitably constitute the foundation for China-Nepal socioeconomic
ties in the 21st century. It was against the backdrop of such
foundation work, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and Nepali Prime
Minister Girija Prasad Koirala signed six cooperative agreements,
which included the second road link between the two countries when
the former visited Nepal in May 2001.
But the condemnable massacre of the entire family of Nepal's
King Birendra in June 2001 and the intensification of foreign
interference in Nepal's internal affairs demonstrated the critical
need of a reassertion of China's anti-foreign invasion and
interference policy that unflinchingly and resolutely supports
Nepal's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.
It is noteworthy that Nepali Prime Minister Koirala even at the
personal level feels honestly committed to a one-China policy.
During his upcoming visit to China, leaderships in both countries
look set to steer Sino-Nepali relation toward new heights. Their
bilateral effort is understood to have received unprecedented
support through China's multilateral role in Nepal's peace process
under UN Security Council Resolution of 1740 (January 23, 2007)
whereby the UN reaffirms Nepal's sovereignty, territorial integrity
and political independence.
Predictably Sino-Nepali relation in the 21st century will be
trailblazing like the 2008 Olympic Torch relay that will not only
enlighten the global village on its way but also rejuvenate
civilizations on either side of the great Himalayas.
The author is the general secretary of the China Study
Center, Nepal.
(China Daily July 26, 2007)
