Nepal-China ties get a ‘happy’ boost with new leftist PM, but India and US wary

Nepal’s previous government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba was seen to be pursuing stronger ties with India and the US

Analysts also expect the new government to expedite and prioritise Belt and Road Initiative projects in Nepal

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Nepal’s new Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as Prachanda. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:00pm, 28 Dec 2022Updated: 12:22pm, 28 Dec 2022

The rise of a veteran Maoist leader to become Nepal’s new prime minister is likely to inject “more momentum” into the country’s China ties while also checking American influence in the region, analysts said, after communist parties came together on Sunday to oust the previous US-aligned government.

Pushpa Kamal Dahal, more popularly known as Prachanda – meaning fearless – ditched his alliance partner the Nepali Congress (NC) to install a communist-led government in Kathmandu with rival KP Sharma Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist).

The previous government led by the NC’s Sher Bahadur Deuba was seen to be pursuing stronger ties with India and the US, while insisting that Nepal would prefer “grants, instead of commercial loans”, interpreted as a veiled critique of China’s Belt and Road Initiative projects in the country.

Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Nepal’s then-Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli during a visit to Kathmandu in 2019. Photo: Xinhua

Oli, once labelled a “pro-China” leader by Chinese tabloids, has been fiercely critical of New Delhi and is seen to favour a greater role for Beijing in Kathmandu. Prachanda has called for “equal ties” with both China and India, instead of insisting on a “special relationship” with Delhi as Nepali politicians have done in the past.

While there are questions surrounding the new alliance’s stability – Prachanda and Oli had a public falling out just last year – the new government will enjoy a minimum of two years in power if it establishes an electoral majority in parliament, under Nepal’s constitution.