By replacing Yang with Wu, China seems to have given a message that the new Chinese leadership has given high priority to Tibet for its national security. Giving credence to speculations about the change in China´s view on Nepal vis-a-vis Tibet, Wu, speaking at an interaction in Beijing on possible Chinese investment in Nepal last week, said, "Despite being a small nation, Nepal is strategically significant to China. The (new) Chinese leadership has given high importance to Nepal." [break]
Wu, now serving as Deputy Director General at the Department of External Security Affairs of China, has not served as envoy to any country in the past. However, Wu, in his various capacities, has worked for nearly 27 years in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China. Information about Wu is not readily available in the public domain, which also indicates that he is more a security expert than a career diplomat.
Weeks before Wu´s arrival in Nepal, a Tibetan monk self-immolated in Kathmandu, becoming the 100th Tibetan to do so since 2009. Obviously, the Tibetan youth´s self-immolation in Kathmandu has been viewed as an evidence of the Dalai Lama´s supporters using Nepali soil against China.
Along with a series of self-immolations by the Tibetans, the Dalai Lama´s physical frailty as well as the continuous pressure being exerted by Lobsang Sange, Prime Minister of the Tibetan government in exile, on Beijing has pushed the Tibet issue to a new level. Wu´s appointment as the new Chinese envoy to Nepal has showed that Beijing will focus on Tibet like never before in the years to come.
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