Taipei, April 4 (IANS) With the rise of new political leadership in Kathmandu and growing strategic constraint on China’s engagement with Nepal, there is hope that the stronger democratic institutions would enable the Nepali people to comprehend Beijing’s expansionist ambitions in Nepal and the wider South Asian region, a report highlighted on Saturday.

“This year’s parliamentary election in Nepal — the first after the Gen Z-led violent protest that toppled the previous government in September last year — was marked by a foundational shift in Nepal’s domestic politics. The results resoundingly rejected the traditional political parties, with the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), led by Balen Shah, securing a majority in the 275-member Nepalese House of Representatives. The complete turnaround in Nepal’s political environment could undermine China’s game plan in South Asia,” a report in ‘Taipei Times’ detailed.

“Over the years, China has sought to turn Nepal into a strategic asset in South Asia. A major shift in China’s Nepal policy was observed in 2017, when Beijing played a role in bringing two Nepalese communist parties together — the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), led by K P Sharma Oli, and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), led by Pushpa Dahal. This paved the way for the installation of Oli as Nepalese Prime Minister,” it added.

According to the report, the formation of a new government led by Prime Minister Balen Shah in Kathmandu is viewed as an unprecedented setback to China’s Nepal policy.

It added that the declining political hold of the communist parties in Nepal would curb China’s clandestine efforts to “consolidate the tenets of a communist regime” in South Asia and beyond.

“Thus, the defeat of Oli and other top communist leaders is not merely a reflection of the people’s dissatisfaction with these leaders but also underscores their discomfort with China’s inroads into Nepal. This can be gauged from the fact that sections of Nepal’s political parties, civil society and media had expressed their objection to China’s interference in internal affairs,” the report mentioned.

It stressed that China’s efforts to build close ties between its military-industrial complex and Nepal’s defence requirements, and thereby make Kathmandu dependent on it for military supplies and services, would encounter a dead end.

Highlighting the political shift in Kathmandu, the report further said, “Shah belongs to the Madhesi region of Nepal, which has the ‘bread and blood’ relations with India’s state of Bihar, and he studied and lived in India for a long time, meaning that the prospect for a strong bilateral relationship with India during his tenure is high, further adversely impacting China’s interests.”

–IANS

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