-By Mohan Singh
They put it in different ways-‘fair-weather friends’ and ‘a friend in need is a friend indeed.’ The triangular relation between Nepal, China, and India sharing international borders continues to occupy a prominent niche in the domain of public discourse, at least in the Asian continent. In this context, the latest topic drawing attention is the asymmetric Nepal-China trade relations and newfound fondness of copious Chinese investments for industrial / infrastructure projects in Nepal. Since 2015 when the India-Nepal relationship hit the lowest point in recent years, the trade prospect between Nepal and China, meanwhile, witnessed an upward swing with the two countries signing a number of trade agreements. However, the agreements including those targeted to operationalize six trade points have only strengthened the submission as to ‘how hurriedly impractical and unviable agreements were inked’! The current Nepal-China trade standoff, a by-product of ‘stricter and unilateral’ ex-parte steps taken by the Chinese at Rasuwagadhi and Tatopani trade check posts, has left the common Nepalese traders and businessmen in the lurch.
As the goods stockpiled in godowns and warehouses keep rotting, Chinese mandarins are sheepishly oblivious, sympathetic, and insular to the miseries and perils of their smaller trade partners, a far cry from the principled and altruistic stand of our southern neighbor. Various news reports highlight that the Chinese officials posted at two trade centers had left their posts for New Year vacation, consequently stalling international trade in these trying COVID times, reflecting Chinese insensitivity and apathy towards their more vulnerable neighbors. So serious is this issue that Nepal’s industry, commerce, and supplies minister Lekh Raj Bhatta has unequivocally commented that ‘time has come to reconsider if Nepal should at all do any trade with China. Unconfirmed reports however indicate that the trade stand-off at Rasuwagadhi and Tatopani may resume this weekend.
Nevertheless, in the larger context, the fate of Nepali business houses still remains uncertain owing to ‘restrictive’ and ‘stifling’ Chinese rules and regulations regulating international trade. Significantly, as no one in China is ready to even acknowledge the importance of pressing the issue at hand, many, including a section of those in the power corridors of Nepal consider this standoff as China’sundeclared economic blockade’. In sharp contrast, 2015 problems between Nepal and India captured headlines and precipitated rounds of political bickering more so as Nepal accused India of resorting to the blockade. Surprisingly the happenings along the Nepal-China border at Tatopani and Rasuwagadhi have failed to garner requisite domestic or international attention, more so at the same pitch and frequency. With this a natural question arises; Why this discrimination and dichotomy?
It is only natural for occasional disputes to crop up between Nepal and India, which share hundreds of kilometer-long ‘open and porous’ borders. The established diplomatic conventions between the two countries are matured and well oiled to not only handle such issues in a balanced manner but also calibrate ‘logical, acceptable and sustainable’ closure. The two sovereign countries with so many similarities and age-old tie-ups have time and again proved that they are true ‘all weather’ friends. Gone are those precipitous days of 2015 when the bilateral relation between Nepal and India nose-dived due to suspicion. The organic trade relationship has once again bounced back and is actively thriving. Even during the cataclysmic CoronaVirus lockdown days, India continued to honor and fulfill its international trade commitments by allowing the movement of essential commodities from Bangladesh and Bhutan into Nepal through its border checkpoints.
Another burning example Damak Clean Park Project, a flagship Chinese investment under Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) framework, located in Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli’s home constituency is a testimony to all those sacred touchstones that have been sacrilegiously violated. The brazen and high-handed manner in which the Clean Park project has been shoved down the gullible locals by the Oli administration, all at the behest of China, duly circumventing democratic-participative norms and oft- cherished principles of propriety, has left the locals stupefied. Political parties and landowners have been rightfully incensed by the autocratic ways and means adopted by the project authorities to expedite the ground-breaking ceremony.
The colossal socio-economic-environmental pitfalls involved in executing this mammoth engineering project, many of them not being consciously assessed, coupled with untold human cost and misery is simply appalling. Since September-October last year, the land losers and political parties have been steadfastly demanding instant redressal of various burning issues pertaining to the Clean Park Project. They have also been time and again flagging that consensus arrived at all-party meetings on this matter be respected. Notwithstanding a series of meetings and deputations that have transacted with the Prime Minister, clarity on issues of adequate compensation and transparency still continues to elude the nation. In yet another desperate move to highlight various flashpoints regarding the politically ambitious project, a second humongous rally in less than two months took place at Gauradaha in Jhapa district on Wednesday (Feb 17). The rally against the Chinese project (organized under the aegis of Sanghiya Loktantrik Rashtriya Mancha and Sanghiya Limbuwan Manch) attracted a wide participation of 7000 protestors, drawn from Janajatis, Adivasis, Dalits other downtrodden/ disenfranchised sections of the society, straddling across the wide catchment area.
It was incidentally the second large protest rally organized in Jhapa District, all within a span of two months the last rally took place in December 2020), all and all due to the perceived insensitivity of the Oli Government which is driven towards safeguarding Chinese business interests in the region. Wednesday’s protest program was attended by popular public leaders including Kumar Lingden, president of Sanghiya Limbuwan Manch, and Khagendra Bhattarai, Convenor of Damak Clean Park Struggle Committee. The public leaders touched upon various burning issues like ‘how the Oli brand is hard-selling a highly controversial and ill-conceived project’, ‘transparency regarding clandestine dealings of Clean Park Project, and adequate compensation to victims of land acquisition’. Other than political issues, the speakers also claimed that the ‘Oli Government is hell-bent on destroying everything in the name of development’ and assured that the Manch would never allow this to happen. Back to China-Nepal trade, The lack of political willpower and requisite initiatives from Nepal has already drawn the ire of Nepali traders, forcing them to resort to a demonstration against ‘Chinese chicanery and highhandedness’.
Many political analysts and academicians in Nepal have also been flagging the practicability of the four trade routes, yet to be officially operationalized. It is contended that significant distance and remoteness of the trade routes intertwined with heavy snowfall and proclivity to landslides would make the routes physically vulnerable and economically untenable. The rosy promises pandered by Nepalese leaders which were sourced from its northerly neighbor have so far failed to prove their credentials. Various tales of woes emanating out of these proposed six trade routes including insurmountable hardships faced by Nepalese traders serves as a prelude of hard times in the offing. Take-Home Recent epochs viz. Chinese incursion of Humla at a juncture when Nepal was reeling under a debilitating political crisis, popular people’s movement against the toxic Damak project, and the undeclared trade blockade should serve as a timely wake-up call to Nepal’s leaders for steering a much-needed course correction.
Wonder what else needs to transpire so as to realize that China could never be a fair-weather friend? Recent epochs viz. Chinese incursion of Humla at a juncture when Nepal was reeling under a debilitating political crisis, popular people’s movement against the toxic Damak project, and the undeclared trade blockade should serve as a timely wake-up call to Nepal’s leaders for steering a much-needed course correction. Wonder what else needs to transpire so as to realize that China could never be a fair-weather friend?
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