The delegation not only attended the military exercise named “Warrior 2008” conducted by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on September 22 but also met with some of the top military leadership in China, Defence Minister Liang Guanglie and Guo Boxiong, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and several high ranking senior PLA officials in Beijing on September 24.
Thapa, one of the military strategists of CPN (Maoist) during the insurgency period, held separate meetings with his Chinese counterpart General Liang Kuwang Li and acting vice-chairman of China’s Central Military Commission Ko Pi Siyong. During the meeting, he discussed a range of issues and underlined the need to strengthen Nepal’s defense cooperation with China in the days ahead. China, in response, offered a Rs.100 million military aid to Nepal and sought a more deeper cooperation with the Nepali Army.
Since the Maoists coming to power in Kathmandu, China has made it quite obvious its intentions to pursue a closer relationship with Nepal.
This has found ample reflection in the Maoist leadership’s words and actions. Prachanda made it a point to visit Beijing first, breaking the age-old tradition of a mandatory visit by the new leadership in Kathmandu to New Delhi. Prachanda also has been making it quite clear, in all his foreign policy speeches, that the Maoist-led government would maintain an ‘equi-distance’ between China and India and strictly follow the ‘Panchsheel doctrine’.
The Defence Minister, on the other hand, has struck a more pro-China stance by seeking a closer military tie with China which is bound to be a sore point with India.
More than the military hardware purchases, it is the ground being laid for a deeper relationship between Nepal Army and PLA which has raised eyebrows in different Capitals of the world. China’s reiteration that it would safeguard Nepal’s territorial integrity as part of its neighbourhood policy has only strengthened such concerns.
The new-found relationship has raised concerns in the region. India believes the move to be aimed at countering its interests in the neighbourhood. The Chinese Ambassador to Nepal, Zheng Xianglin, on several occasions has tried to rationalise China’s support to Nepal by taking up China’s security stakes in the region and the anti-China activities in Nepal. The Chinese offer to extend its Beijing-Lhasa train link to Khasa in Nepal has raised fears about a possible Chinese encirclement of India. The rail link would give a strategic edge to the Chinese objectives in south Asia.
This is not the first time that Beijing has made overtures to Kathmandu. The two armies have collaborated on personnel training in the past. The Nepali Army (NA) has been sending officers and other personnel to study in Chinese military universities. In 2006-2007, 21 NA officers and personnel went to China for training. Similarly, China has also sent military officers to participate in the adventure trainings organized by NA.
An expanding military cooperation between a close, and traditionally friendly, neighbour and China could have serious implications for India’s strategic interests in the region and should therefore be closely monitored.
Paul Soren:ORF
0 comments:
Post a Comment