Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal met Beijing’s top diplomat Wang Yi, his first trip to the neighbouring superpower since his party swept to election victory in March, and days after visiting Beijing’s regional rival India.
While Kathmandu and Delhi have feuded over parts of their 1,751km border for decades, Khanal told his hosts in Delhi earlier this month that the new government in Nepal was “free from the political baggage from the past”.
Nepal’s ties with China have been bogged down due to inaction over project delivery for infrastructure earmarked as part of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s flagship “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative, which Nepal joined in 2017.
Wang reiterated China’s commitment to building up Nepal’s infrastructure, highlighting cooperation in power generation, highways, ports and aviation.
China, the world’s largest bilateral creditor, has lent Nepal around US$310mil.
Chinese firms have invested US$1.12bil in the country’s energy and real estate sectors, data from the American Enterprise Institute think tank shows. — Reuters
