Nepal PM KPS Oli said on Tuesday, June 26, 2018, said that his just concluded China visit has helped the bilateral ties to attain a new high and that our friendship has become stronger than what we enjoyed prior to the visit.
Nepal has always taken China as a reliable partner.
The Communist Prime Minister Mr.

Oli made these observations while making a formal statement at the national legislator on his China visit that kept him engaged from June 19 to 24 June 2018.
PM Oli made it clear that the agreements and understanding(s) that had been reached in between China and Nepal during his China sojourn were all in the national interests of the country.
Lipulek land encroachment by China however, did not figure during the bilateral talks, say the Nepali media men accompanying PM Oli to Beijing.
To recall, Nepal and China, the two ancient neighbors signed various deals including a Memorandum of Understanding for Railway Connectivity during Prime Minister Oli’s visit to China last week.
Observers in Nepal take this rail connectivity with China as the most important of it all over similar other agreements made during the China trip.

PM Oli has become an object of target from his detractors, both from within and without, who say that the entrance of the Rail from China shall plunge Nepal to the deep blue ocean of Chinese debt trap. The criticisms mostly emanate from quarters that are generally taken as “India leaning”. However, making such accusations are not uncommon in Nepal.

Whether the Rail connectivity is a gift from China to the people of Nepal or the latter will have to share the financial burden has not yet been made clear either from China or from Nepal. Thus the financial part still remains a mystery. Perhaps it is not a free lunch from China to Nepal.
“I am happy to share that my recent visit to China has contributed to trust building, increasing goodwill and friendship between the two immediate neighbors. The two sides have agreed to expedite on the swift implementation of the several bilateral agreements reached in the past”, informed the national parliament a beaming Nepal PM Oli.
“I believe that this has created a cooperation framework for the long-term partnership between the two countries, thus taking our ties to a new high,” the prime minister told the lawmakers.
I talked with the Chinese leaders about the priorities of my government to achieve socio-economic development in the days to come, while expecting support for the same from the Chinese side, the PM continued.
“The Chinese leaders looked quite hopeful towards the new government under my leadership.

They also pledged support in our goals to achieve socio-economic prosperity under the slogan of ‘Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali’,” the prime minister added.

This was the first high level visit of Nepal to China after the formation of the new government under the leadership of Prime Minister Oli in February 2018.
The new government is a conglomerate of the two die hard communist parties of Nepal: the UML and the Maoists center.
The UML is the improved and the enlarged version of the Communists of the Jhapa movement. And the Maoists party, though a home grown one, however, this party grew in India under the special care of the BJP and the Indian Congress governments respectively.
In fact, it was the Indian Congress government around 2005-6, the Delhi residing Maoists party entered Nepal with a big bang through the kind courtesy of GP Koirala who was clearly assisted by the then Indian Foreign Secretary, Shyam Saran whose 12 point Delhi drafted and engineered agreement that had been exclusively constructed to “damage Nepal” completely accomplished its assigned tasks.
“We are less interested in playing cards against our immediate neighbors, hinted PM Oli to both of Nepal’s neighbors.
Instead, Nepali observers say that India has a disgusting habit of playing the economic blockade card against Nepal. So far, Nepal has braved four Economic blockades from the Indian establishment. And Freshly against the Maldives.
But was Oli’s China trip a resounding success without correcting the Lipulek blunder committed by China together with India on May 15, 2015?

In the meanwhile, Zamir Ahmed Awan, a Pakistani national, who is a Sinologist at the National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, and non-resident fellow of the Center for China and Globalization has talked of Nepal PM Oli’s China visit. He says, in his own words, (sic), the visit of Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli of Nepal to China marks a new beginning in Nepal-China relations. During the visit, Oli signed eight agreements covering a wide range of cooperative initiatives including in the areas of rail, trade, and energy. Nepal has been inspired by China’s recent developments and support for the Belt ad Road Initiative (BRI).
China, as far as analysts in Nepal understand, prefers India to join the BRI framework along with Nepal, however, India is averse to this “trilateral” Chinese proposition as regard the BRI.

PM Modi sounded his strong reservation to the BRI scheme at the freshly concluded SCO Summit at Qingdo, China.
Since then, could be a mere conjecture also, China and India have preferred to keep their friendship at a comfortable distance.

Is it the rehearsal of the Doklam-II?
Mr. Awan is a prolific writer.
Nepal’s joining BRI is a big achievement for China’s initiative. It is worth mentioning that India has not accepted BRI, while all of its neighbors are joining BRI and becoming vibrant supporters of the initiative, writes Mr. Awan.