KATHMANDU: China is sending a four-member team led by a vice minister of the Chinese Communist Party to Kathmandu in what is believed to be its effort to assess the situation on the ground and avoid a split in the ruling. Communist Party of Nepal (NCP), said a media report on Saturday.
Nepal plunged into a political crisis after President Bidya Devi Bhandari dissolved the House of Representatives and announced the dates for the midterm elections on the recommendation of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Sunday, sparking protests from a section of the ruling party.
The ruling NCP has been virtually split between factions led by Prime Minister Oli and Chief Executive Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, two years after its formation with the merger between Oli-led CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Center led by Prachanda in May 2018.
At least two PNC leaders confirmed that Guo Yezhou, vice minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC), will arrive here on Sunday, the Kathmandu Post newspaper reported.
“Leading a four-member team, Guo is scheduled to land in Kathmandu on Sunday morning on a regular China Southern Airlines flight,” the newspaper reported, citing sources from both factions of the NCP.
The newspaper said the Chinese move is believed to be an effort by Beijing to assess the situation on the ground.
Bishnu Rijal, deputy director of the Foreign Relations Department of the Prachanda-led faction of the PNC, said the Chinese side has communicated about Gou’s visit to Kathmandu.
“I don’t have many details to share with you right now,” Rijal was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
The Chinese embassy in Kathmandu did not respond to his multiple calls and messages, the newspaper said.
Citing sources from the ruling party, the newspaper said that during his four-day stay in Kathmandu, the Chinese vice minister plans to meet with the top leaders of both factions of the party.
The event comes after the Chinese ambassador to Nepal, Hou Yanqi, held a series of meetings with the president and top leaders of the PNC, including Prachanda and Madhav Nepal, who replaced Oli as chairman of the Prachanda-led faction.
During her meeting with Madhav Nepal on Friday, Ambassador Hou, who was concerned about the division in the ruling party, asked about the ruling party’s future political course, among other things, the newspaper quoted Rijal as saying.
Hou met with Prachanda on Thursday, who claims control of the ruling party after removing Prime Minister Oli from the positions of leader and parliamentary chairman of the party.
He had also met with Standing Committee member and former energy minister Barsha Man Pun on Thursday, the newspaper said.
Hou’s meeting with Prachanda came two days after he visited President Bhandari at the latter’s office in Sheetal Niwas on Tuesday.
The envoy was said to have discussed the latest political developments following the president’s decision to dissolve the House of Representatives and announce midterm elections.
This is not the first time that China has intervened in Nepal’s internal affairs at a time of crisis.
In May, Hou held separate meetings with President Bhandari, the prime minister and other senior PNC leaders, including Prachanda, as Oli faced mounting pressure to resign.
In July, he met again with several top leaders, including the president, prime minister, Prachanda, Madhav Kumar Nepal, and Jhala Nath Khanal and Bamdev Gautam to save Oli, known for his pro-Beijing leanings.
Several political party leaders had described the series of meetings of the Chinese envoy with the leaders of the ruling party as interference in the internal political affairs of Nepal.
Dozens of student activists carrying banners with anti-China slogans had organized a rally in front of the Chinese embassy here to protest Hou’s interference in Nepal’s internal affairs.
China’s political profile in Nepal has been rising in recent years with billions of dollars in investments under Beijing’s multi-billion dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), including the construction of the Transhimalayan Multidimensional Connectivity Network.
In addition to investments, China’s ambassador to Nepal, Hou, has gone to great lengths to gain support for Oli.
The Communist Party of China and the Communist Party of Nepal regularly participated in training programs. In September last year, the PNC had even organized a symposium, inviting some Chinese Communist Party leaders to Kathmandu to train Nepalese leaders on Xi Jinping Thought ahead of the Chinese president’s first visit to Nepal, according to the newspaper. additional.
.
