Revision as of 06:18, 25 September 2018

Access to seaports

2018: China allows Nepal use of seaports to end India’s monopoly

Nepal ends Indian monopoly on transit, September 8, 2018: The Times of India

2018- Land- locked Himalayan nation just got alternate trade routes, but will it help?
From: Nepal ends Indian monopoly on transit, September 8, 2018: The Times of India

Kathmandu Gets Access To China’s Ports, Ending Dependence On India For Supply Of Essential Goods, Trade

China will allow Nepal the use of four of its ports, the Nepalese government said on Friday, as the landlocked Himalayan nation seeks to end India’s monopoly over its trading routes by increasing connections with Beijing.

Wedged between China and India, Nepal depends heavily on India for the supply of essential goods including fuel and the use of its ports for trade with other countries. But Kathmandu has sought access to Chinese ports to reduce dependence on India since a prolonged blockade of its border crossings with India in 2015 and 2016 left the country short of fuel and medicine for several months.

Officials from Nepal and China finalised the protocol of Transit and Transport Agreement (TTA) during a meeting in Kathmandu on Friday giving Nepal access to the Chinese ports at Tianjin, Shenzhen, Lianyungang and Zhanjiang, a statement from Nepal’s commerce ministry said. It said China had also agreed to allow Nepal use its dry (land) ports at Lanzhou, Lhasa and Xigatse as well as roads to these facilities.

The arrangements will come into effect when the protocol is signed, an official said without giving a date. “This is one of the milestones because we are getting access to four Chinese ports in addition to two ports in India,” Rabi Shankar Sainju, a commerce ministry official, said. He said Nepali cargo from Japan, South Korea and other north Asian countries could be routed through China which would cut shipping time and costs. Overland trade is now routed mainly through the port of Kolkata which takes up to three months, officials said. Delhi has also opened the port at Vishakhapatnam for Nepali trade.

Traders say the plan to connect the country with China could face issues due to a lack of proper roads and customs infrastructure on the Nepalese side of the border. The nearest Chinese port is also located more than 2,600km from its border. “Nepal must develop proper infrastructure for smooth access to Chinese ports. Without this simply opening of ports will not be useful,” said an exporter. China is making fast inroads into Nepal with aid and investment, challenging India’s long-held position as the dominant outside power.

Infrastructure

2017: dual-use highway from China to Nepal via Tibet

China opens dual-use highway to Nepal via Tibet, Sep 18, 2017: The Times of India

HIGHLIGHTS

China has opened a strategic highway in Tibet to the Nepal border.

The highway could be used for civilian and defence purposes.

China has been stepping efforts to improve road connectivity between Tibet and Nepal.

China has opened a strategic highway in Tibet to the Nepal border which could be used for civilian and defence purposes, a move that Chinese experts say will enable Beijing to make forays into South Asia, according to a media report.

The 40.4-kilometre highway in Tibet between Xigaze airport and Xigaze city centre officially opened to the public on Friday with a short section linking the national highway to the Nepal border. The highway will shorten the journey from an hour to 30 minutes between the dual-use civil and military airport and Tibet's second-largest city.

State-run 'Global Times' quoted experts as saying that the highway "will enable China to forge a route into South Asia in both economic and defence terms" and being a forerunner to a railway line connecting Nepal.

Geographically, any extension of the road and railway connectivity to South Asia is through India, Bhutan and to Bangladesh.

Chinese officials have said in the past that the projects are feasible and could become a trade corridor for India and China if New Delhi comes on board.

The new road runs parallel with the Xigaze-Lhasa railway and links the city's ring roads with the 5,476-kilometre G318 highway from Shanghai to Zhangmu on the Nepal border, the report said. As part of G318, the highway connects the border town of Zhangmu with Lhasa, the provincial capital of Tibet. It can link with the future cross-border Sino-Nepali railway, said Zhao Gancheng, director of the Centre for Asia-Pacific Studies at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies.

The G318 with Xigaze in the middle connects to Nepal on one end and other end links to Nyingchi, the Tibetan town close to Arunachal Pradesh border. The highway runs very close to the border. China has been stepping efforts to improve road connectivity between Tibet and Nepal while speeding up plans to build a railway line connecting to Nepal's border after K P Sharma Oli, pro-China former Nepalese Prime Minister, signed a Transit Trade Treaty with Beijing last year during his tenure.

Oli signed the treaty at the height of the Madhesi agitation and their blockade of Indian goods to provide a major opening for China to reduce the dependence of the landlocked country on India, even as the transportation of essentials through the Himalayan terrain of Tibet would entail heavy costs for Nepal.

However, since the fall of Oli government, China's plans to speed up its efforts to make forays into Nepal through infrastructure expansion slowed down even though Kathmandu signed up for Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative in May 2017.

The 25-meter-wide highway between Xigaze peace airport and Xigaze has four double lanes and is classified a first-tier highway, the Tibet Financial Daily reported. "Highways in China are of a high standard including the one in Tibet. It can be used by armoured vehicles and as a runway for planes to take off when it has to serve a military purpose," Zhao said.

"The road is Tibet's first real highway. It is our gift toward the upcoming 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China," Wei Qianggao, deputy head of the Tibet transportation department was quoted as saying by the Global Times.

As an important infrastructure programme in the 13th Five-Year Plan and a core section of Tibet highway network, the road will benefit the export-oriented economy of Xigaze and the complex traffic around Lhasa, Wei said.

Over five years, the standard of highways in Tibet and the traffic network have been gradually improved, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Wang Jinhe, another official from the Tibet transportation department, the report said.

The total highway mileage in Tibet reached more than 80,000 kilometres in 2016, increasing nearly 19,000 kilometres since 2011, Wang said.

2018

China hails Nepal’s independent foreign policy

Saibal Dasgupta, China hails ‘independent’ foreign policy of Nepal, March 30, 2018: The Times of India

China has praised the new Nepal government’s claim of pursuing an independent foreign policy.

China “commends the Nepal government’s commitment towards an independent foreign policy”, Lu Kang, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday, soon after KP Sharma Oli, a strong supporter of China, took charge as Nepal’s PM.

China’s official media has been bitterly criticising New Delhi for allegedly making Nepal “economically reliant” on India. China has been striving to push forth its business agenda like project construction and also eye the Himalayan kingdom as a future strategic asset, observers said.

Oli had signed a series of deals allowing Chinese companies to build railways, roads and other projects in Nepal during his last tenure as PM in 2016. Those plans were not implemented after he lost power. Beijing expects those deals to be revived now.

At the same time, China is also making the right kind of diplomatic parleys. China “supports Nepal developing friendly and positive relations with its neighbours,” Lu said. “China, Nepal and India are important neighbours to each other. We hope the three sides can work together, have some sound interactions and achieve common development,” he added.

Earlier, Oli had criticised India for interfering in Nepal’s internal matters and accused it of toppling his last government.