KATHMANDU: Zhang Jiadong, professor at the Center for American Studies, Fudan University, has observed that the Nepali Congress (NC) President and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is likely pro-Indian and might tilt to India for a while but that would not have a drastic effect on Nepal-China ties.
Professor Jiadong noted that Nepal needed both Indian and Chinese neighbors along with multilateral cooperation to achieve prosperity, regardless of who is in power. He said, “Nepal’s foreign policy has already taken shape.”
Penning an opinion on Global Times, a daily tabloid newspaper under the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship People’s Daily newspaper, on Sunday – the day PM Deuba garnered a vote of confidence from the parliament – Professor Zhang Jiadong drew the attention of Chinese readers and policymakers to deepen ties with Nepal by understanding its foreign policy. He is of the view that China need not fret over the changes in the leadership and ruling party here.
The Chinese professor observed American and Indian missions warming up to PM Deuba and elucidated the beginnings of the NC to corroborate that Indian influence on Nepal, including geostrategic and geopolitical, was undeniable.
However, he doubted that Deuba could remain in power for long as “he was not elected by the Parliament but by the Nepal’s Supreme Court, which means he has limited support in Congress and among the people.”
“The Communist Party of Nepal is still the biggest party in the House of Representatives, if Deuba cannot firmly grasp the support of the majority of the Parliament; he won’t be able to guarantee a favorable environment for his party in the general elections next year,” he wrote.
The professor is probably referring to the widening rift in the CPN-UML and barbs-trading that is going on between senior UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal and UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli in his sentence: “These days in Nepal, denying someone is easier than approving one.”
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