Thank You Friend

By: Bikal Dhungel  

The friendship of Nepal and China goes back to the time of Tibetan Empire, which consisted of parts of today’s  Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and obviously China. The Empire was founded by Emperor Songtsan Gyampo. His first wife was princess from Nepal during Licchavi Period called Bhrikuti, an incarnation of Tara (meaning star, and a form of princess Durga or Parvati ).

Lhasa remained a destination for trade and prosperity in Nepalese historical mind-set as trade took place between the two countries since then. The cultural relationship between the two countries is displayed by arts and architecture in both nations though poorly documented. In the 13^th century, a Nepali architect, Araniko was sent to work for the Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan. He designed and built many buildings in China, including the masterpiece ‘The White Stupa’ of Miaoying  Temple in Beijing. He had built many stupas and temples and later settled in China. The way he took, from Kathmandu to Lahsa is today called Araniko Highway.

When Nepal invaded Tibet in 1788 following a trade dispute, the Qing imperial force marched to Tibet to drive out the Nepalese and succeeded which is called the first Sino-Nepalese War. Again in 1855, Junga Bahadur Rana launched another war in Tibet and eventually won. As a result, Tibet had to pay a ransom of 10,000 rupees per year to the Nepalese Durbar agreed on the ‘Treaty of Thapathali’. When India was occupied by British East India Company and later the British Government, Nepal always fought on the side of British against China.

Since the diplomatic relations was established in 1^st August 1955, there have been 34 state-level visits by Kings, Heads of Governments ( Prime Ministers ) and Foreign ministers from Nepalese side whereas 13 visits from China from the same level including president Jiang Zemin and Li Xiannian and prime ministers Wen Jiabao, Zhu Rongji, Li Peng, Zhao Ziyang and Zhou Enlai.  Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, two countries have remained friends in need with China supporting Nepal in its development process without interfering in the internal politics. China only can’t tolerate any anti-China activities in Nepal regarding Tibet but apart from this, it has been a trusted friend. Nepal is one of the major recipients of Tibetan Refugees along with India. Almost a million on them live in the country of about 30 million people. Tibetans have also brought their skills with them; one of the most visible is small scale woollen garments throughout Nepal. They are also believed to be the ones who possess most gold. Apart from this, Tibetan architectures and monasteries attract most visitors. However, protests against Chinese policy in Tibet takes place frequently in Kathmandu but the Nepalese police are especially tough in this matter as the Chinese authorities exercise their pressure on their Nepalese counterparts. Looking at the development side of the story, Chinese takeover of Tibet has been a good thing for Nepal because China is growing rapidly, became the richest country on earth in terms of total GDP and because it is massively expanding infrastructure in mainland Tibet that connects to Nepal. China has already begun to build a railway line from Lhasa to Khasa, a small dwelling just at Nepal-China border. This railway link will improve the trade between both countries and contributes to Economic Growth which will have huge effect for Nepal. The Railway line is an extension of Golmud-Lhasa link, this means, once the construction is complete, Nepal will be the part of China’s railway network. If the Nepalese government is successful in upgrading Araniko Highway, its trade dependence with India will be reduced and Nepal will be flooded with cheap Chinese goods that even the poorest in Nepal will be able to afford, hence boosting life standard further. It will also have other effect, that is, India cannot tolerate the reduction in trade with Nepal and in order to stop the expansion for the benefit of China, it will obviously join Nepal with its own railway line (which has already been promised by Indian PM’s recent Nepal visit). So, a competition between the both neighbours will be a boon for Nepal. China is building another railway line connecting to Sikkim, India. This again is a boon for Nepal as Nepal shares border with Sikkim and with the help of this, can have a railway connection to Bhutan as well. In a country like Nepal, transportation costs are one of the major driving forces of higher prices. Railway is one of the cheapest among the means of transportation. Hence, it will boost the purchasing power of the consumers by reducing the price of the goods and this will have positive impact on development as a whole. Both India and China have understood that a regional development based on cooperation can be a win-win situation for all of the countries. If India, Nepal, China, Bhutan, Burma and Bangladesh could be inter-connected with railway line, tourism will rise, trade will rise and the growth of China and India will pull other small countries as well, called ‘Spill-Over Effect’ in economic development. Burma has huge resources, Bangladesh has an access to the Ocean, China will profit by having an access to the Indian Ocean, which is extremely important for its trade with Europe because currently, all Chinese goods should make a huge round via the South China See, and a link through Burma will save transportation cost and time, and India will profit by the link with China and other countries.

The point is, China’s capacity is helping Nepal in an immeasurable way. Apart from such positive effects of Chinese actions, China is also directly involved in building Nepal. China has become Nepal’s biggest foreign investor. Its small and big scale projects are now countless. It has invested 45 million US dollar to build a ring-road in Kathmandu, an eight-lane highway that will relax the heavy traffic in the cities within Kathmandu valley. The Chinese Ambassador Wu Chuntain mentions that there are now over 500 local companies in Nepal established by Chinese nationals that range from hydropower, tourism and other industries. Upper-Trisuli hydro power projects, Upper Marsyangdi, Upper Modi hydropower are three main projects with Chinese investment. Additionally, China is preparing the construction of Pokhara International Airport and the Chinese already cover one third of all Foreign Direct Investment ( FDI ) in Nepal. Just last year, there was a fantastic increase of FDI by 245%, from Rs 7.9 billion in 2011/12 to 19.39 billion. In the fiscal year 2010/11, China was third largest Foreign Aid contributor to Nepal, after the World Bank Group and Asian Development Bank, and the largest among individual countries. According to the data of Nepalese Ministry of foreign affairs, China has committed 20 million dollars for Energy and Fuel, 13 million for Economic Affairs and Commerce, 62 million for Education and Tourism, 4 million for home affairs and security, 33 million for transportation and millions in other sectors totalling 229 million dollars or Rupees 22 billion.

In Africa, China emerges to be the biggest partner of development. Last decade, China committed 75 billion dollar for Development in Africa. Today it is building Highways to Ministerial Buildings to Hospitals to Bridges and everything it can. China doesn’t care about either the country is democratic or not, either they care about human rights or not. It only cares business but Business is actually the magic bullet that brings people out of poverty. First good governance and development or development and then good governance is the Egg and Chicken dilemma. Same thing goes in South Asia. The Western Countries blame China for not caring for democracy, can be true. The Western Countries blame it for neglecting environment, may be. The Western Countries blame China for acting only on its own profit that can be true as well. But, despite this, China is the biggest success story of the end of Poverty. It has lifted up 600 Million people out of poverty in the last few decades and it is marching towards the same success in other South Asian countries. Hence, China is a friend of Development, not its enemy.