Tibet railway in focus as China vows change for landlocked Nepal, in move sure to worry India

China will help Nepal realise its dream of becoming a ‘land-linked country’, Foreign Minister Wang Yi tells post-quake reconstruction conference

US$8 billion cross-border railway from south Tibet to Kathmandu is key project in China’s belt and road plan in South Asia and a strategic worry for India

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Chinese President Xi Jinping with then Nepali prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli, in Kathmandu in October 2019. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 12:00pm, 10 Dec 2021

China will help landlocked Nepal boost connectivity via road and rail, Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said, in a move that experts say will raise strategic concerns for regional rival India.

Addressing the International Conference on Nepal’s Reconstruction, Wang also pledged continued Chinese support for rebuilding the country after the devastating earthquake of 2015 and urged closer cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.

“China will make solid progress in the feasibility study of a cross-border railway project, improve the trans-Himalayan multidimensional connectivity network, and help Nepal realise its dream of changing from a ‘landlocked country’ to a ‘land-linked country’,” Wang told the conference via video link on Wednesday.

He also called for deeper belt and road cooperation on issues ranging from trade, investment and energy supplies to infrastructure and climate change, to help the Himalayan nation with its economic recovery.

The US$8 billion cross-border railway – from Shigatse, or Xigaze, in south Tibet to Nepalese capital Kathmandu – is expected to boost the economy of Nepal, the second poorest country in Asia after North Korea. It is also an important part of China’s ambitious belt and road strategy in South Asia.