Nepal floats new triple entente

Add caption

Anil Giri and Jayanth Jacob, HT, 17 Oct 2016, KATHMANDU/BENAULIM (GOA): Nepal has proposed a strategic partnership and cooperation with China and India, its two giant neighbours seen as jockeying for influence in the Himalayan nation.

The proposal was made in a trilateral meeting between Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Goa on Saturday on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, a statement issued by Nepali PM’s secretariat said Sunday.

The proposal was well received by China and India, it said.

The trilateral meeting was not planned. It turned into one as Modi dropped by and spent some 20 minutes with Xi and Prachanda who were meeting on the sidelines of a BRICS dinner.

It raised eyebrows as it is unusual for a scheduled bilateral meeting to go this way. It wasn’t immediately clear why Modi joined the session. Prachanda’s son, Prakash Dahal, posted several photographs of the meeting on his Facebook page, which was quickly picked up by the social media. Dahal described the meeting as “coincidental”.

Before forwarding the proposal, Prachanda held one-to-one meeting with Xi for 20 minutes, the Nepali statement said.

Prachanda reminded the Indian and Chinese leaders he had forwarded such a proposal in 2008 during his first prime ministerial stint.

China had responded positively but India didn’t react to the plan.

However, this time Indian PM welcomed the idea, the statement said.

Pushing for the arrangement, Prachanda said Nepal wanted to emerge as “dynamic bridge” between its two big neighbours.

“My proposal for trilateral strategic partnership was well received by both Indian and Chinese leaders,” Prachanda was quoted as saying.

He evoked Buddha to emphasis on historic ties between the three countries. “In this modern time too, we once again want to be the bridge between India and China where the relations between these two neighbour scan be harmonious and cordial,” he said.

Xi, too, backed the plan, the Nepali leader said .