Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to visit Nepal from March 25 to 27

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is scheduled to arrive in Nepal's capital Kathmandu on March 25 to meet key leaders. This is the first visit by a senior Chinese government official to Nepal since President Xi Jinping’s visit in October 2019.

“At the invitation of Minister for Foreign Affairs Hon. Dr. Narayan Khadka, State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China His Excellency Mr. Wang Yi is visiting Nepal from 25 to 27 March 2022,” Nepal Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

During the visit, Wang will pay courtesy calls to President Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister of Nepal Sher Bahadur Deuba.

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On March 26, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Khadka and State Councilor Wang Yi will hold bilateral talks, leading their respective delegations.

This visit comes in the wake of parliamentary ratification of Millennium Challenge Corporation’s $500 million Nepal Compact. The ratification of the compact was a major setback for China.

State Councilor Wang Yi will also meet with former Prime Minister and Chairman of CPN-UML KP Sharma Oli, and former Prime Minister and Chairman of CPN-Maoist Centre Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’.

Ahead of the MCC endorsement, leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) had held a series of video conferences with their Nepali counterparts, considered close to China — CPN-US chair Madhav Kumar Nepal and JSP chair Upendra Yadav.

As per sources, there was continuous pressure on leaders of Communist parties of Nepal to not support the MCC ratification.

Apart from the above-mentioned issues, the ties between Nepal and China since the beginning of the pandemic have been turbulent.

There are some alarming issues between two countries which needs to be focused on: China’s ‘undeclared blockade’— the full-fledged reopening of the northern border points–Rashuwagadhi and Tatopani, which are major trading points between Nepal and China,

Also, problems faced by Nepali students enrolled in various Chinese universities who had to return home abruptly due to the pandemic, the long-standing border dispute.

In May 2016, former PM KP Oli signed a Transit and Transportation Agreement with the Chinese government, which would theoretically enable Nepal to make use of Chinese ports. There has been no progress in the implementation of the deal since 2016, and this is partially due to turbulent political changes in the country.

Although Nepal and China signed the Framework Agreement on the BRI in May 2017, four months before Nepal signed the MCC compact with the United States, there has not been any desirable progress. Under BRI, not a single project has taken off in Nepal so far.