Chinese delegation arrives capital

HONG KONG, Sept 11:  A 21-member Chinese delegation led by He Yong, vice-premier and secretary at the secretariat of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, arrived Kathmandu on Saturday.



The delegation comprising senior Chinese leaders is scheduled to hold meetings with President Dr Ram Baran Yadav, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and top leaders of UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and other political parties. [break]



This is the highest-level Chinese delegation visiting Nepal since the peace process began here. Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji had visited Nepal in 2001 and the fourth tier leader of Chinese Communist Party and then chair of Chinese People´s Political Consultative Conference had visited Nepal later in 2003.



The visit of Yong comes amid failure of political parties in Nepal to form a new government even two-and-a-half months after Prime Minister Nepal tendered his resignation.



Beijing has been maintaining that a consensus government is a must to ensure regional peace and stability. Chinese president or prime minister is also likely to pay visit to Nepal in the immediate future.

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