By Nirmal P. Acharya
Recently, Liu Jianchao, the newly appointed Minister of the International Liaison Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) visited Nepal from July 10 to 14, marking his first visit since taking office.
During his visit, all the major political leaders met with Minister Liu and unanimously expressed that no force will be allowed to engage in anti-China activities using Nepalese soil. In fact, after the signing of the MCC treaty with the US, it seems difficult to honour these promises.
According to the MCC agreement, the US side has no restrictions on the number of people entering Nepal and the duration of their visas is unlimited. Nepal also has no right to inquire about the specific nature of work of these visitors and materials entering Nepal in the name of cooperation and projects are not subject to inspection and supervision by Nepal.
While the US has publicly declared China as the greatest enemy country, it apparently wants to exercise every means and opportunity to weaken and subvert China. The US definitely has come all the way to Nepal to go ahead with some big assignments. Of course, mainly aimed at China and after China, India will be the next target.
With the signing of the MCC agreement, the US has stepped up, while Nepal has relinquished its regulatory sovereignty over the project. Under such circumstances, the promise to “never allow any force to use Nepal’s territory to conduct any activities against China”, will lack power with the absence of authority, even though the intention sounds real.
Despite part of Nepal’s political and social elite resisting the MCC for several years, some political leaders bowed their heads to the MCC at the eleventh hour. For sure, it is never easy for a small country to contend with the coercion of the world’s only superpower to such an extent.
China certainly has a certain degree of understanding of Nepal’s difficulties. Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Nepal not long ago. This time, Minister Liu Jianchao made Nepal his first priority after taking office, which shows the importance he attaches to bilateral relations and his vigilance towards MCC and SPP.
Is there anything we should be very vigilant about?
The US CPI in June reached a record 9.1 percent, indicating the US plan to promote the Russian-Ukrainian war did not achieve its goal of harvesting other countries and diverting its own domestic conflicts. If the contradictions continue to develop, the US may have to provoke a second war in the East and this “second battlefield” is usually associated with the Taiwan Strait. If a war is detonated in the Taiwan Strait, there will inevitably be a head-on collision between China and the US. But, since the US has avoided a head-on collision with Russia, it is most likely the US will also avoid a head-on collision with China. So, will South Asia be preferred for the “Second Battlefield”?
South Asia is in close proximity to Tibet and Xinjiang, which the US sees as China’s weak spots and is home to three nuclear powers, China, India and Pakistan, including Iran. The US will be able to kill two birds with one stone only by messing up this region.
Seriously terrifying if you think about it! I dare not write further along this thread.
Reproduced from people’s review weekly
