New Delhi: India has been completely blindsided by the recent developments in Nepal which have left out Indian origin minorities like Madheshis and Tharus out of the new Constitution. With the clear intent of under-cutting India, China has extended its all out support to the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) Chief KP Oli, who has been declared his party's PM candidate. It's rare for the Chinese government to openly back an opposition party figure in a foreign country.
Senior most ministers in Chinese Foreign Ministry from Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Vice Minister Chen Fengxian and Assistant Minister Dou Enyong all visited Nepal in August when its Constituent Assembly was debating the new Constitution. But the Government of India's woke up and sent Foreign Secretary K Jaishankar after the vote was cast and Nepal was on the verge of adopting the new Constitution, in the third week of September.
The turning point in the Constitution process came in March when the Chinese government invited Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal popularly known as Prachanda to Beijing where they managed to convince him to drop his opposition to the new Constitution. Prachanda had planned protests across Nepal which he dutifully dropped after returning from China.
Under the garb of post-earthquake reconstruction, China has been lending huge amounts of money to foundations led by Nepalese politicians including former prime minister GP Koirala, pro-monarchy trust run by the daughter-in-law of former King Gyandendra and senior leaders of CPN (UML) and Maoists.
And it's not just limited to the politicians. The Chinese People's Liberation Army has offered to train more than 100 officers of the Nepal Army in 40 different courses starting from 2015. Recently the Nepal Army decided to procure double base propellants, rifles and pistols from a Chinese supplier, M/s Wuhan Hujian. Another Chinese company, PCCW Global also sold VSAT communication equipment worth more than $4 million to the Nepal Army.
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