The Chinese embassy in Kathmandu is gearing up for Bhattarai´s China visit followed by CPN (UML) Chairman Jhalanath Khanal and Nepali Congress (NC) President Sushil Koirala. Khanal is scheduled to visit China in the second week of June and Koirala a few weeks later.
China´s invitation to Bhattarai to visit the country is being viewed as the northern neighbor´s fresh bid to renew its relationship with Nepal´s top political leaders. Earlier, UCPN (Maoist) Pushpa Kamal Dahal had visited China. [break]
In the last seven years since the peace process began, almost all senior UCPN (Maoist) leaders have visited China. However, Bhattarai had not received any such invitation as he is believed to be close to India.
Talking to Republica in Kathmandu two weeks ago, Bhattarai had said, “The Chinese ambassador asked me if I wanted to visit China. I told him that I would not prefer an official visit to Beijing. Instead, I said I would prefer a personal visit to learn about China´s growth story. I want to study the new development model adopted by Beijing in the early 1980s.”
Beijing had invited Bhattarai, when he was the prime minister, to visit China-South Asia Expo held in the city of Kunming. But, Bhattarai dropped his visit after having to step down as the prime minister. Bhattarai´s wife Hisila Yami, who is also a UCPN (Maoist) leader, is visiting Kunming this year. Last year, Yami had reached Beijing via Kunming probably to arrange Bhattarai´s China visit while he was in office.
Although the Chinese prime minister visited Kathmandu when Bhattarai was PM, he was not invited to Beijing probably because of his “close ties with Delhi”. But, the new political leadership in Beijing wants Nepal´s commitment to “One China Policy” as the basis for diplomatic relationship between the two countries.
“When he was the prime minister, Bhattarai had cracked down on anti-China activities in Nepal. Hence, there is no reason why Beijing should not be inviting Bhattarai to China,” a Chinese embassy official told Republica.
Bhattarai, talking to Republica, also said that he discussed the idea of a tripartite collaboration between Nepal, China and India, which was proposed by Dahal during his China and India visits, with the envoys of the both countries. Bhattarai is of the view that although India does not strategically oppose the idea, it is not practically ready to take the step. “I held separate talks on this issue with both the envoys,” said he. “But, they were not ready to jointly discuss this idea. And, I realized that time was yet not ripe.”
According to him, India traditionally thinks that the whole region below the Himalayas, which includes Nepal, is under its influence and it also fears China. “Some in Delhi support the idea of collaboration between the three countries,” said Bhattarai. “But, some in Delhi still think that the region below the Himalayas is traditionally under its influence and it should be linked up with China. But, Nepal must adopt a strategy to engage in trade with both the countries.”
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