China-India-Nepal Trilateral Relations

Watch it on NIICE Nepal YouTube Channel

Event Report

Amidst the pandemic, when the whole world order has been challenged and new international relations are emerging, there has been a significant shift in bilateral as well as multilateral relations between nations.  Keeping this as central theme, the Nepal Institute of International Cooperation and Engagement (NIICE) Nepal, under the joint collaboration of Fudan University and Jawaharlal Nehru University, organised a webinar over Zoom on 6^th June 2020.  The topic of webinar was China- India -Nepal trilateral relations.

The key speakers were Prof. S.D. Muni, Professor Emeritus, JNU; Prof. Zhang Jiadong, Director, Centre for South Asian Studies, Fudan University; Deepak Prakash Bhatt, Member of Parliament of Nepal; Prof. B.R. Deepak, Chairperson, Centre of Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies, JNU; Prof. Lin Min Wang, Deputy Director, Centre for South Asian Studies, Fudan University, and Dr. Pramod Jaiswal, Research Director, NIICE.

The first speaker, Prof. SD Muni focused on India and Nepal bilateral relations and mentioned that the old cliches don’t explain the India Nepal relations today. The ‘Roti Beti Ka Rishta’ and civilizational bonds don’t explain the evolving bilateral relationships now. He said that under 1950 treaty with Nepal for a special relationship, India facilitated to project Nepal as an independent and sovereign nation globally because then, both countries faced the common concern to rising Communist China. But today, this issue is no more relevant especially for Nepal. While putting forward the reasons for this shift in engagements, he said that Nepal has been changed from monarchy to democracy and India, too, is a country full of aspirations. Both countries are facing rising nationalism and therefore economic blockade in 2015 by India left a negative perception in Nepal. He concluded that Nepal must balance its relations and its foreign policy without playing India card or China card.

Prof. Zhang Jiadong focused on China- India relations and mentioned that no one can choose their neighbours. He initiated his session discussing the impact of pandemic on international order and later on, he focused on China- India relations. He said that both countries follow Parallel Principle of coordination and cooperation on one hand and competition on other hand simultaneously. India cares China on latter’s sensitive issues like Tibet, Taiwan Dalai Lama, etc. Discussing the way forward to strengthen bilateral relations, he said that it should be people centric because market economy supersedes the State, Army and Foreign Policies. Nepal can act as a buffer zone, bridge and physical connection between both countries which will lead to psychological effects.

Dr. Deepak Prakash Bhatt initiated his lecture by focusing that Nepal can benefit from both China and India and he thanked the latter for its active engagement with Nepal after 2015 earthquake disaster. He said that in Nepal, both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian PM Narendra Modi were welcomed whole heartedly. It is the need of the hour for the academicians, researchers to pour some serious studies over India and Nepal relationships as both countries have some territorial disputes which should be resolved peacefully.

Dr. B R Deepak put forward the narrative of emerging India and its capacity to handle domestic as well as international crisis. He divided his lecture into three segments. Under first segment of Border Standoff, he mentioned that the consensus between both countries is eroding. India is having tough stand on CPEC, BRI projects while China has some reservations about Masud Azhar issue and Article 370 abrogation. So, there should be a renewed grievance addressal mechanism with more political actors involved. Under second segment, he talked about Trade and Investment and accepted that India, as an alternative supply chain to China, is currently an exaggeration. In the third and last segment of Economic Asymmetry, he stressed that Indian projects like Bharatmala and Sagarmala should be implemented effectively.

Next speaker, Prof. Lin Min Wang focused on China- Nepal relations and focused that Buddha has been the connecting link between both countries. Nepal is part of Chinese flagship BRI project and both leaders visit each other’s countries on a regular basis. He put forward the Chinese perspective which seeks a stable and peaceful Nepal. However, he admitted that India has been very important in Chinese foreign policy, nevertheless, China is firm on its One China Policy.

To the end of session, Dr. Pramod Jaiswal put forward his own perspectives and compared the Indian aid to the Chinese aid. He referred that while Chinese aid is visible, objective and target oriented, the Indian projects have been in a state of suspension since 1970s. He cautioned Nepal to pursue independent foreign policy and forbade both India and China to pursue the Reaction Diplomacy and cease to interfere in Nepali domestic policies.

Prepared by Ambrish Tripathi, Intern at NIICE, Nepal