AFP, BEIJING
Nepalese Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli was in Beijing yesterday to meet Chinese leaders, seeking to expand infrastructure cooperation after breaking with the longstanding tradition of new leaders making their first official visit to neighboring India.
Oli, who returned to power in July after two previous terms in the top job, arrived in Beijing to commence the trip on Monday evening, China Central Television footage showed.
The leader of the Himalayan republic is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強) during his visit, which is scheduled to last until tomorrow.
Nepalese Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, second left, waves alongside his wife, Radhika Shakya, left, before departing for China at Tribhuvan airport in Kathmandu on Monday.
Photo: AFP
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs last week said that Xi and Oli would “have in-depth exchanges of views on deepening our traditional friendship.”
That includes expanding cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative — Xi’s flagship international infrastructure project — and “exchanges and cooperation in various fields,” ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning (毛寧) said.
Pradeep Gyawali, deputy secretary of Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal Unified Marxist-Leninist, said that the visit would center on prior investment deals — including for the recently finished construction of an international airport in tourist hub Pokhara.
Oli has sought to walk a fine line between neighbors China and India, the world’s two most populous nations, but has favored Beijing in an effort to cut Kathmandu’s historical reliance on New Delhi.
Nepalese media reported that Oli likely chose Beijing as his first destination due to the absence of a formal invitation from New Delhi.
The Nepalese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Oli would “exchange views on matters of mutual interest” with his Chinese counterparts during the trip.
He was also to deliver a keynote address at Peking University and speak at a bilateral business forum, the Nepalese ministry said.
