{"id":5461,"date":"2021-05-28T20:48:59","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T15:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nepallivetoday.com\/?p=5461"},"modified":"2021-05-31T11:41:33","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T05:56:33","slug":"is-nepal-gearing-up-its-vaccine-diplomacy-with-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nepallivetoday.com\/2021\/05\/28\/is-nepal-gearing-up-its-vaccine-diplomacy-with-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Nepal gearing up its \u2018vaccine diplomacy\u2019 with China?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

CPC meeting with Nepali political parties followed by Presidential calls between Bidya Bhandari and Xi Jinping: What does this mean for Nepal?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government of K P Sharma Oli, also KP Sharma Oli as an individual politician, acquired the moniker of being a \u2018pro-China\u2019 leader.  There are some grounds for this. During the 2015 blockade, when Oli was the Prime Minister, Nepal made an appeal to China for fuel supplies and China delivered around 1000 tons of petrol to Nepal.<\/a>  The shipment of fuel from China is said to have been the defining moment for India to consider lifting the blockade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then in March, 2016, when Oli visited China\u2014his first China trip after becoming the PM\u2014the historic Transport Transit Agreement<\/a> was signed with Beijing\u2014which among other things allowed Nepal access to the sea via China for trade with third countries. The Indian and the Western press defined this as Nepal\u2019s \u2018shift\u2019 to China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari went to China in April 2019 during which protocol on Transport Transit Agreement was signed<\/a> enabling Nepal to use four Chinese sea ports\u2014in Tianjin, Shenzhen, Lianyungang and Zhanjiang\u2014and three land ports\u2014in Lanzhou, Lhasa and Shigatse\u2014for third-country trade.  President Xi reciprocated and came to Kathmandu in October that year during which several pacts including on feasibility study of China-Nepal Cross-Border Railway Project and Tunnels Construction Cooperation were signed, ruffling some feathers in New Delhi and Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back home cabinet ministers would defend nearly everything related to China, including its BRI project<\/a>. Chinese Communist Party and Nepal Communist Party behaved like sister organizations<\/a>: CPC would host programs where NCP leaders, including the incumbent ministers, would participate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Break in bonhomie<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bonhomie appeared to break when the NCP was on the verge of collapse. China was visibly worried about it and was making all efforts to save the NCP unity. The Chinese are said to have been miffed with PM Oli\u2019s preference for power to party unity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Communication seemed to have stopped after the December 20, 2020 parliament dissolution and March 7 Supreme Court decision that formally broke NCP into Maoist Center and CPN-UML.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week could prove to be the beginning of a new shift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 26, leaders of major political parties\u2014CPN-UML, Maoist Center, Nepali Congress, JSPN, Rastriya Prajatantra Party etc\u2014and the leaders of Communist Party of China (CPC) had a virtual meeting<\/a> in which Nepali leaders appealed China for cooperation to fight back the Covid-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What followed was an unexpected surprise.  \u2018During today’s phone conversation with Nepali President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that China will provide 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Nepal under grant assistance,\u201d announced Chinese Ambassador to Nepal<\/a>, Hou Yanqi that evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

President Bhandari\u2019s conversation with her Chinese counterpart\u2014who took the initiative and who dialed first is also loaded with meaning in diplomacy but that is beside the point here\u2014has also been seen as the office of the president making efforts for vaccine diplomacy with China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does this event mark the beginning of Nepal\u2019s \u2018vaccine diplomacy\u2019? What does the sudden activism of the Nepal president signify? Observers and scholars differ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doubts and hopes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would not call it vaccine diplomacy at all. In fact, Nepal has appeared incapable of vaccine diplomacy,\u201d Ramesh Nath Pandey, author of Kutniti ra Raajniti <\/em>(\u201cPolitics and Diplomacy\u201d) and former Foreign Minister of Nepal told Nepal Live Today<\/em>. \u201cThe game here is all about sustaining the government or failing it. People have been completely forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government was perceived to be not doing enough to seek support from China. Oli government was criticized for disturbing the balance in Nepal\u2019s relation with China and depending on India for vaccines.  So much so that a group of civil society leaders came out in the open urging China to help Nepal.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe government was making requests to India, which itself was in big trouble. It looked as if it had completely forgotten China, it looked reluctant to seek support from China. That\u2019s why we made that appeal,\u201d said Jagannath Lamichhane, a member of that civil society group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commenting on the reports that President Bhandari took the initiative to reach out to her Chinese counterpart for vaccines, he said that such initiative should have been taken much earlier. \u201cAfter all, China was ready to help, it was sending the signals that it was ready to help. Why didn’t the PM and President care to reach out?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does President Bhandari\u2019s conversation with her Chinese counterpart mark the beginning of Nepal\u2019s \u2018vaccine diplomacy\u2019? What does the sudden activism of Nepal’s President signify? <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Lamichhane argues that Prime Minister K P Oli is trying to salvage the president\u2019s image by making her look as if she is working to galvanize support from India and China.  \u201cI hope to be proven wrong but this appears like his preparation for emergency rule through the president,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trailokya Raj Aryal, Kathmandu based commentator who writes on Nepal-China relations, considers the one million doses of vaccine as a humanitarian gesture from China while wondering why only one million, \u201cChina can give the vaccines enough for the population of the whole country?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aryal terms the presidential call as a public relation measure. \u201cThe President is unpopular. People have turned negative with the office of the president as well as the president herself,\u201d he said. The much hyped telephone call has served as a measure to advertise that she is doing something good for the people, he added.  \u201cIt\u2019s something of a lottery for her, but the question is why this lottery now when she is so unpopular, why this lottery by the Chinese side to her?\u201d Aryal questioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Aryal, CPC\u2019s virtual meeting with Nepali political parties is loaded with messages. \u201cChina wants to show that they are more reliable for Nepal than India. By reaching out to other parties including Nepali Congress, it has also sent the message that if the House is reinstated and Congress government formed under Deuba, they will also have to work closely with China.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post Bahadur Basnet, an international relations researcher, sees the episode from a geopolitical lens. \u201cWhy should she write to Indian president asking him to facilitate vaccine export? He is just a figurehead,\u201d he said. \u201cThis was intended to give the message to India that the government of K P Oli is not cozying up to China and that the government actually needs India\u2019s support for survival.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Basnet, China holding meetings with other parties before announcing vaccine support to Nepal marks a shift in China\u2019s Nepal policy. \u201cChina\u2019s hope that a strong communist party in Nepal would help develop a stable relation with China has been shattered along with the collapse of Nepal Communist Party,\u201d he said. \u201cNow China does not want to be seen to be supporting the Oli government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basnet is of the view that what is seen as Nepal reaching out to China is a smokescreen. \u201cThe government was avoiding China. When India declined to send vaccines which Nepal had already paid for, the government came under intense pressure to turn to China.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basnet argues that the President wrote a letter to her Indian counterpart after receiving the intelligence that China would announce support. \u201cIt was the message that the government has not shifted its policy toward China and it is loyal to India,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cIt is not vaccine diplomacy as hyped by the media,\u201d Basnet reiterated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CPC meeting with Nepali political parties followed by Presidential calls between Bidya Bhandari and Xi Jinping: What does this mean for Nepal? The government of K P Sharma Oli, also KP Sharma Oli as an individual politician, acquired the moniker of being a \u2018pro-China\u2019 leader.  There are some grounds for this. During the 2015 blockade, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":5465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,4,15,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","category-politics","category-top-stories","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nepallivetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Oli-and-xi.jpeg?fit=1000%2C575&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcWLTd-1q5","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nepallivetoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nepallivetoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nepallivetoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nepallivetoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nepallivetoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nepallivetoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nepallivetoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nepallivetoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nepallivetoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nepallivetoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}