Still, we are covering it and writing this editorial to extend our warm welcome to the Chinese premier and to tell him that we Nepalis value our relationship with China, subscribe to a one-China policy and oppose any third-party activities in Nepal aimed at undermining Chinese sovereignty and destabilizing the northern neighbor.
But we also want to say how very disappointed we are with all the hush-hush surrounding the Wen visit. Why is the visit of a Chinese premier, taking place after a decade, being handled so secretively? Why has the agenda of the visit not yet been released? The peoples of the two best of neighbors deserved to know in advance when the head of government of one neighbor is traveling to the other. Such high-profile visits are meant to consolidate ties between the two countries at people’s level, and not just between the governments. But the surreptitious handling of the whole affair dampens the spirit of friendship and sends out a message that something is amiss.
We are not sure the government will ever feel the need to explain to the public why the visit was kept so secret till the last minute. Not knowing the reasons behind that will fuel speculation and the rumor-mills will roll, which will not do any good for either country. Premier Wen was supposed to come last December, on the 20th of that month to be precise, or at least that is what Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai had disclosed. But the visit was deferred at the last minute just as dramatically as Wen is arriving tomorrow.
The government then gave contradictory explanations for the last minute deferral. On one hand, Foreign Minister Narayankaji Shrestha claimed that the visit date had never been fixed in the first place, and it was said on the other that it was deferred purely because of China’s own internal reasons, more precisely because of Wen’s preoccupation with budgetary and economic issues at home.
But there was a lot of speculation in the media that the last minute deferral occurred because the Chinese side wasn’t fully reassured about the security situation in Nepal, particularly the possibility of protests by Tibetans in Kathmandu during the visit. If that is true, it speaks as much about our weak security capabilities as about China’s sense of insecurity over the Tibetan issue.
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