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Chinese foreign minister to visit Nepal after American ‘gift’ strains ties
- Beijing has yet to confirm Wang Yi’s trip but Kathmandu says he will arrive on Friday
- It comes after Nepal’s parliament approved a US development grant that China opposed
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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Nepal later this week as part of a regional tour, seeking to repair ties with the Himalayan nation that is caught between the US-China rivalry.
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Beijing has yet to confirm the trip, but according to Nepal’s foreign ministry, Wang – who is currently in Islamabad – will arrive in Kathmandu on Friday for a three-day visit. It would be the first visit to Nepal by a senior Chinese official since President Xi Jinping’s trip in October 2019.
Wang arrived in Pakistan on Monday and was expected to address a meeting of foreign ministers from over 50 members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation as a “special guest” on Tuesday.
China’s ties with Nepal have been strained in recent weeks over a controversial US-backed development project that Beijing has criticised as an attempt by Washington to drive a wedge between the two neighbours.
Despite Beijing’s strong opposition, Nepal’s parliament on February 27 ratified its government’s decision to accept a US$500 million grant under a 2017 Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) pact with the US.
Washington said it was a development grant and “a gift from the American people to Nepalis” to help improve roads and electricity links. Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying had likened the move to opening “a Pandora’s box” and took aim at the US for saying it would hurt bilateral ties if Nepal did not ratify the grant.
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Zhao Gancheng, a researcher with the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, said Nepal’s decision on the MCC project was a blow for the country’s relations with China, which had warmed after it signed on to the Belt and Road Initiative.
“Nepal is a priority for Wang during this regional trip as he needs to ascertain how the US-Nepal agreement will affect China,” Zhao said.
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