Nepal, China FM hold comprehensive bilateral talks
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Nepalese counterpart Shisir Khanal held “comprehensive talks” covering the entire gamut of bilateral ties.
Khanal arrived in Beijing on a four-day visit on June 14 after his weeklong trip to India. After he met with Wang, Khanal said in a post on X, “We held a comprehensive discussion on the entire gamut of bilateral relations, including in the areas of connectivity, border management, trade, technology transfer and multilateral cooperation.” “We also exchanged views on expanding people-to-people ties and reaffirmed shared commitment to further strengthening Nepal–China relations for the mutual benefit of our two countries,” he said.
Wang told Khanal that China has always placed its relations with Nepal in an important position in its neighbourhood diplomacy and pursues a friendly policy toward all Nepali people.
China will, as always, support Nepal in safeguarding its national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and in exploring a development path suited to its own national conditions, Wang said, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
Khanal’s visit to Beijing is regarded as significant as both countries were expected to reset the relations after this year’s massive victory of the new Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), ending the prolonged rule of leaders of Nepal’s Communist parties, K P Sharma Oli and Prachanda, who sought to move Kathmandu closer to Beijing, away from India. The RSP’s victory in the general elections marked an end to the dominance of the communist parties, which gained political prominence after the abolition of the monarchy in Nepal in 2008.
