Leveraging Our Neighbors

The visit of Nepal’s Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli to China has found a lot of coverage in Nepali and Indian press, but it is rare to read some good analysis. With most of the private media towing towards becoming the voice of the establishment, we read words like ‘historical’, and ‘unprecedented success’, but it is rare to read a deep analysis of why they say so. Anything to do with China attracts the attention of Indian media and with no stringers based out of Kathmandu, the rhetoric of the few continues to be the source of analysis.

We live in times where India propagates a multipolar world, and China wants to be the continuous and only competitor to the United States. If one needs to engage with these two countries, one must go beyond the lenses of where the first visit took place and the list of agreements on chairs at universities, covered halls, and sundry infrastructure. We need to look at what is happening closer in our neighborhood. If one must engage with India, it requires high-level engagement like, in Bhutan, where multiple high-level meetings and visits focus on building infrastructure and advancing hydropower projects. With China, Cambodia is a classic example of high-level visits and laser-focused discussions. On the contrary, Nepal has always limited its visits to India and China for optics, with the pictures of departure at Kathmandu airport, the arrival at Beijing or New Delhi, and the dances were performed still being reported as newsworthy. Bilateral relations in this day and age of social media require more preparation, interlocutors, and track-two specialists. It is about moving items on the agenda like the energy export to Bangladesh through Nepal. It was not any of the Prime Ministers of Nepal who achieved this, but rather folks who were going back and forth with New Delhi for a long time. If you allow inter-government mechanisms to function, then things will move.

Bilateral relations are also about business and investments. Having a jumbo delegation of cartel and super-cartel members does not generate the necessary openings to work further. In my conversations with some of these business leaders, they are happier to boast about how many MOUs they signed during their tenure in leadership rather than what they were able to achieve. Institutions require strong secretariats to push bilateral and multi-lateral agendas. There must be research, analysis, and competencies around policy discourse. These are sadly missing in Nepal. Businessmen use this time to get an audience with the Prime Minister, senior ministers, and bureaucrats instead of working on a strategy for bilateral business and investment relationships.

In earlier decades, the Prime Minister of Nepal visiting India used to be an assurance to India that Nepal would not be used as a base for anti-Indian activities, especially housing Pakistani agents. This was important as to the way Nepal was portrayed as a security concern to India. In current day, the Prime Minister travels to Beijing to tell China that Nepal adheres to the concept of ‘One China’. The top leaders of China and India are happy to meet their Nepali counterparts on the fringes of international meets and the occasional bilateral visits. It is not much different from the elders who are happy to meet relatives during Dashain or family events. But do these achieve anything substantial? Absolutely not!

As of now, Nepal does not stand as a priority for China and India until there is a security issue. Nepal needs to be the one to push well-researched agenda with both these countries and leverage the location along with the economic growth they are embarking on. This requires us to prioritize what is important to discuss. Talking about a sports stadium in the UML President’s constituency in Jhapa and a city hall in the Congress President’s Consistency in Dadeldhura highlights the short-sightedness of sycophants attempting to push these agendas to the forefront when dealing with the world’s second-largest economy. We must look at the big picture and overcome our myopia of details.

Nepal is fortunate to be in a geography and neighborhood, situated between the world’s two fastest growing economies, projected to be the first- and second-largest economy by 2050. We need to think big and think right. This is the best time in history to leverage the location between these two countries and the buffer state that prevents both from deploying an army along their borders with Nepal. We must learn how to leverage this cost of security spend saved by both China and India.

The next time a prime minister travels to China or India, he should consult experts, avoid sending out large groups of people with junketeers, prepare thoroughly, set up track-two systems, and take some significant action that will leave a lasting impression on society.