Nepal’s foreign minister visits China after first calling

Nepalese Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal met with China's top diplomat Wang Yi, marking his first trip to the neighboring superpower since his party secured an election victory in March. This visit comes just days after Khanal traveled to Beijing's regional rival, India.

The recent ousting of a Communist Party-led coalition government in China's sphere of influence presents a challenge for Chinese diplomats, who are working to bolster crucial ties in the region while simultaneously reasserting claims in the East and South China Seas, according to analysts.

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China has always placed Nepal at the forefront of its ‘neighbourhood ⁠diplomacy’, and “will support Nepal in safeguarding its national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

"China has always placed Nepal at the forefront of its 'neighborhood diplomacy,' and will support Nepal in safeguarding its national sovereignty and territorial integrity," Wang stated, as per a foreign ministry readout released Monday. Analysts believe that Nepal's ties with South Asian power India grant the country of approximately 30 million people a degree of leverage over China. This could place Beijing in the unusual position of needing to prove its significance to Kathmandu.

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free from the political baggage from the past

While Kathmandu and Delhi have had border disputes for about 80 years, Khanal informed his hosts in Delhi earlier this month that Nepal's new government is "free from the political baggage from the past" and ready to improve relations with India. Nepal's relationship with China has faced hurdles due to a lack of progress on infrastructure projects designated as part of Chinese leader Xi Jinping's "Belt and Road" initiative, largely because of financing disagreements. Wang reaffirmed China's commitment to developing Nepal's infrastructure, emphasizing cooperation in power generation, highways, ports, and aviation.

Eric Olander, co-founder of the China-Global South Project, suggested that Beijing might have been surprised by the Nepalese election outcome. "Beijing doesn't like change that directly impacts them," he said. "Change that is potentially hostile or challenges their interest is what gets their attention. My guess is they didn’t see this coming in Nepal and they don’t like it when popular movements overthrow incumbent governments."

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Beijing doesn’t like change that directly impacts them. Change ⁠that ​is potentially hostile or challenges their interest is ​what gets their attention. “My guess is they didn’t see this coming in Nepal and they don’t like ​it when popular movements overthrow incumbent governments.”