A ‘Himalayan battle of wits’ is brewing in Nepal as US, China and India ramp up support

US support for Tibetans also has implications for Nepal, which China has grown closer to in recent years

India and Nepal will hold a bilateral meeting on Thursday, where Kathmandu aims to secure supplies of Covid-19 vaccines

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Tibetans in exile in Kathmandu during an event marking the birthday of spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:30am, 13 Jan 2021Updated: 9:43pm, 13 Jan 2021

New US legislation passed by Congress last month to support Tibetans, even those in Nepal, and India’s vaccine diplomacy will fuel a simmering geopolitical contest for influence in the landlocked country, analysts say.

On one side is Beijing, which has in recent years cemented stronger ties with Nepal’s ruling Communist Party and offered large infrastructure investments and economic aid to the country. On the other are India and the US, both traditional partners of Nepal who are increasingly united in a bid to counter Beijing’s rising influence in South Asia.

All eyes in this tug of war will be on New Delhi on Thursday, when External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar hosts his Nepali counterpart Pradeep Gyawali. India, which is likely to be a key manufacturing centre for Covid-19 vaccines, is expected to offer Nepal supplies at the meeting, the highest-level official contact between the two men since a diplomatic spat over a map and a disputed area of territory last year.

Along with AstraZeneca’s locally branded Covishield, India’s drug regulator has also given approval to an indigenous vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech and a government institute. Four more vaccines are in clinical trials in India, including Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D and Russia’s Sputnik V.

As part of the new US legislation, Washington will ask Kathmandu to grant legal documentation to exiled Tibetans who have been living in Nepal, which shares a border with China’s Tibetan Autonomous Region. There will also be funding worth US$6 million from this year to 2025 to support younger Tibetan leaders in India and Nepal and preserve Tibetan language and culture, which will come from the US’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). About 70,000 Tibetan refugees live in Nepal with thousands more in India and around the world.