KATHMANDU: A four-member delegation of the Communist Party of China (CPC) arrived Kathmandu on Sunday to assess the situation after the split in the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP).
A delegation led by Vice-minister of the International Department of CPC Guo Yezhou will be staying in Nepal for four days.
Vice-minister Guo is the first foreign official to visit Nepal since President Bidya Devi Bhandari dissolved the Parliament on December 20.
His team is scheduled to meet President Bhandari, Prime Minister KP Oli, leaders of both the NCP factions, and top leaders of the Nepali Congress. However, the schedule has not been made public officially yet.
Bishnu Rijal, Deputy Chief of the Foreign Department of the Prachanda-Madhav Nepal faction, said that the Chinese Embassy had informed about Guo’s visit.
Chinese Ambassador Hou Yanqi met NCP Chairman Nepal and former Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara on Friday and Chairman Prachanda and leader Barshaman Pun on Thursday. Earlier, she also called on President Bhandari.
The ruling NCP has been virtually split between the factions led by Prime Minister Oli and executive chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda’, two years after it was formed with the merger between CPN-UML led by Oli and CPN-Maoist Centre led by Prachanda in May 2018.
It should be noted that Chinese Ambassador Hou in the past had played crucial roles in saving the ruling party from a split.
Political observers note that China, like in the past, has been particularly concerned over the row within the ruling NCP, and the latest political developments here in Nepal.
China government’s move about the micromanagement of Nepali politics has drawn international attention towards Nepal, of late, observers say.
Observers in Nepal dub the ambassador’s moves as unusual while some have taken it an apparent move as this is a mere continuation of such initiations that have taken in the past.
Earlier, Chinese Vice Minister Guo had come to Nepal in 2018.
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