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Kathmandu [Nepal]Nov 2 (ANI): Ahead of this month’s elections, Nepal’s democracy faces a double challenge – its own factionalism and the growing influence of the Chinese Communist Party in the Himalayan country.
Marcus Andreopoulos, a senior fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation, wrote in Foreign Policy that China is increasingly involved in Nepal’s domestic politics.
On November 20, Nepalis will head to the polls to elect the 11th government since it became a democratic republic in 2008. However, the constant formation and breakdown of coalitions has plagued Nepalese politics and disappointed voters.
Geography made engagement with China a necessity for Nepal, but during the country’s transition to democracy, the relationship quickly developed into what bystanders inside Nepal called foreign interference in Kathmandu political affairs, Andreopoulos said.
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Nepal has featured prominently in China’s increasingly assertive performance in South Asia, and the vote could weaken or strengthen Beijing’s strategic plans as Chinese President Xi Jinping begins his historic third term.
Elections in Nepal will briefly see united communists competing against each other again.
Left-wing and communist ideologies have formally existed in Nepal’s political discourse since the mid-20th century. Sympathy for the communist movement continued into the late 1990s and early 2000s, manifested in popular support for the Maoist insurgency that culminated in the end of former King Gyanendra Shah’s rule.
Today, all major political parties in Nepal still see themselves as supporters of democratic socialism. Since Nepal embraced democracy, the CCP appears to have taken advantage of the willingness of some communist factions in Nepal to deepen diplomatic ties, according to Foreign Policy.
To ease political instability, China has pushed to create a unified leftist party in Nepal that would gain broad support and govern in a way that favors officials in Beijing.
Andreopoulos said that by trying to shape a hegemonic party that could rule without opposition, erode the apolitical nature of the Nepalese police and seek to undermine press freedom, the CCP machine seems intent on making Nepal serve China’s interests.
While Nepal’s dominant left-wing ideology is appealing to China, its diplomats appear bewildered by divisions between seemingly aligned parties.
In 2017, the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) announced that they would run as an alliance in that year’s general election. Many analysts suspect China played a role in the merger.
The newly formed Communist Party of Nepal came to power in 2018, but by 2021 the coalition had fallen apart. The Maoists have formed yet another partnership with the centre-left Nepal National Congress, a sign that opportunism, not ideology, is still driving the country’s political alliance.
To achieve its ambitions in Nepal, China prefers a consistent ideological leadership similar to the CCP. First, the lack of consensus among the various leaders coming through the revolving doors of Kathmandu has hindered the progress of infrastructure projects under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which Nepal signed in 2017.
Since the initial agreement, Kathmandu has appeared reluctant to start work on a single project. Debt concerns remain an obstacle for Nepal’s parliament-led ruling coalition. Suspicions of Chinese-funded projects have also grown following repeated delays in the opening of Nepal’s Pokhara International Airport, according to foreign policy reports.
For Beijing, the continuity of Kathmandu’s leadership also benefits the CCP’s geopolitical position. Deepening ties between Nepal and China have drawn strong solidarity at the United Nations; in 2021, Nepal joins other South Asian countries in praising China’s practices in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, where China has been criticized for human rights abuses .
Andreopoulos said any hope of Tibet’s freedom would be dashed if China could sandwich the region between two like-minded governments in Beijing and Kathmandu.
In 2019, Nepal backed China’s stance on Taiwan — but that was under pro-China former prime minister Khadgar Prasad Sharma Oli. If Beijing manages to push a united leftist party to power in Kathmandu, it will boost economic ties between the two countries and cement China’s global reputation in the event of a war with Taiwan, Foreign Policy reported.
The developments underscore the grave danger to Nepal’s democracy ahead of elections this month. There is no doubt that the CCP will seek to please no matter which party or coalition wins. (ANI)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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