BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday told Nepali Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli that China will offer more support to develop the country’s infrastructure, Chinese state media reported.
The Nepali Prime Minister was in Beijing on Tuesday to meet Chinese leaders, including Xi and Premier Li Qiang, seeking to expand infrastructure cooperation after breaking with the longstanding tradition of new leaders making their first official visit to neighbouring India.
Oli has sought to walk a fine line between neighbours China and India, the world’s two most populous nations, but has favoured Beijing to cut Kathmandu’s reliance on New Delhi.
Expressing appreciation for Oli’s firm commitment to promoting friendship between the two sides over a long period of time, Xi said China and Nepal, linked by the same mountains and rivers, are good neighbours, good friends and good partners, and bilateral relations have maintained sound and steady development, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported.
China was ready to “deepen practical cooperation with Nepal, jointly build the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with high quality, and enhance connectivity in areas such as ports, transportation, power grids and telecommunications”, Xinhua quoted Xi as saying.
“These efforts aim to help Nepal transform from a landlocked country to a land-linked country,” it added.
Stressing that China respects Nepal’s choice to follow a development path suited to its national conditions, Xi said that China supports Nepal in safeguarding its national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, Xinhua reported.
China is ready to work with Nepal to consolidate strategic mutual trust and provide staunch support on issues concerning each other’s core interests, Xi added.
Noting that there are no problems, only friendship, between Nepal and China, Oli thanked China for providing various valuable support to Nepal. Nepal welcomes more Chinese enterprises to invest in the country and deepen cooperation in various fields, he said.
Both Xizang and Taiwan are inalienable parts of China’s territory, Oli said as reported by Xinhua. Stressing that Nepal firmly adheres to the one-China principle, he said the country will not allow any force to use its territory for anti-China activities or to harm China’s interests, and that Nepal opposes any foreign interference in China’s internal affairs.
Oli arrived in Beijing on Monday evening to kick off the trip, which will last until Thursday, footage on Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showed.
Beijing’s foreign ministry said last week that Xi and Oli would “have in-depth exchanges of views on deepening our traditional friendship”.
That includes expanding cooperation under the BRI — Xi’s flagship international infrastructure initiative — and “exchanges and cooperation in various fields”, ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.
ALSO READ: Saudi Foreign Minister Meets with Nepali Counterpart
Pradeep Gyawali, deputy secretary of Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML), told AFP the visit would centre on prior investment deals — including for the recently finished construction of an international airport in tourist hub Pokhara.
Nepal’s foreign ministry said he will “exchange views on matters of mutual interest” with his Chinese counterparts during the trip.
He will also deliver a keynote address at China’s prestigious Peking University and speak at a bilateral business forum, the ministry said.
