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By Rabi Raj Thapa

Recently, Nepal’s opposition to India-China border trade via Lipulekh pass undermining Limpiadhura, the tri-junction, flared up into uproar and tensions in Nepal. What were the reasons behind deploying 18 India-Nepal joint check-posts? Then how Nepal Government succeed in removing 17 of those security check-posts except this tri-junction? Today, it may look too normal and simple but one must sincerely appreciate Nepal’s King Maendra and then the Prime Minister Kirtinidhi Bista for that.  

It is an unfortunate precedent that contemporary Nepalis have always taken pride and pleasure in undermining and criticizing their predecessors and glorifying themselves in a narcissistic way. Our republicans need to stop minimizing the diplomatic acumen of past Nepali political leaders, whether Shahs or the Ranas, Panches or others.

Nepali people and leaders must learn to get rid of this pathology of crying over spilt milk or blaming others for any faultiness. In the past, the Ranas had played important roles in protecting and preserving Nepal’s freedom and sovereignty from the colonial British Raj for a century successfully. They were smart enough to exploit, manipulate the powerful British empire, whether by allowing Gurkha recruitment or entertaining them through hunting rhinos and tigers (sikars) in the Nepali Tarai Jungle.

When it was time for the British to leave India, the Rana rulers sent Nepali Generals to Washington to meet US President Eisenhower in 1946. By that time, the US government had already anticipated Nepal’s strategic significance to watch and contain the rising power of Mao’s Communist China. Hence, in 1947, the US became the second nation to have a diplomatic relationship with Nepal. Then the British and the US governments had a definite interest in Nepal as a geographic buffer zone for India against infiltration from China and Russia through Tibet. (Denial W. Edwards – America Meets Nepal 2022).

Now the US government is still very much interested in Nepal, which it has initiated to deepen the relationship through the Millennium Challenge Corporation. However, there is still another issue of incorporating the State Partnership Program (SPP) between Nepal and the US Government.

Time and again, Nepal has shown a very warm and good relationship with China during the Monarchy in Nepal. It may not have been easy because China had already repudiated the monarchy in 1911. In the past, Nepali monarchs were successful in garnering China’s goodwill, whether it was in construction and development. Nepal had also helped to address China’s national security concerns, like the One China Policy and the Khampa Operations of the 1970s. This is a matter of utmost urgency and interest for the Nepalese only.

Today’s imbroglio of Kalapani, Limpiadhura and Lipulekh has shocked the Nepali elite and masses who always thought and saw China as Nepal’s all-weather friend and neighbor. Politicians may have their own reasons for a cool-shoulder response for Nepal, but this has been a jolt to the common Nepali mind that China has negotiated with India to trade through a disputed land Nepal has ever claimed as its own national territory.

It may be the fault of wrong political gimmicks, immature political gestures or even a misadventure to incorporate Lipulekh into the Nepali map only without seriously determining it through diplomatic channels. Failing to recognize the Oli Government’s good intention is leading towards a diplomatic blunder full of patriotic nationalistic fervour only.

Whatever may be the case, the solution lies more in soft and smart power than hard power. But the short-lived hue and cry of Kathmandu or some parts of Nepal is not the answer.

The weakest link is the diplomatic initiatives of all Nepali diplomatic missions all over the world, who seems to be totally and dormant on such a delicate and sensitive issue. Blame goes to the government, which has started to appoint nincompoop-type ambassadors who have no qualifications and confidence to woo foreign governments and diplomats wherever they are assigned and appointed. It is not only the military incapability of Nepali security forces, it is the political and diplomatic failure to select the best diplomatic cadres who can plead and advocate to sensitize Nepali’s rightful claim all over the world.  Now, let the government take strong initiative and circulate to all Nepali embassies and consulates to raise voices and diplomatic initiatives to convince, garner support through diplomatic channels.