High-level Chinese delegations visited Nepal uninvited: Prachanda
Phayul[Wednesday, May 13, 2009 15:04]
“… not a single (Chinese) delegation came to Nepal on my invitation,” says Prachanda.
By Phurbu Thinley
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Dharamsala, May 13: In an exclusive interview with an Indian newspaper, Nepal’s former PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal unexpectedly said the flurry of High Level Chinese delegation visiting Nepal in recent times had arrived in the country without his invitation.
The recently resigned Maoist PM, better known as Prachanda, said the Chinese officials visited Nepal of their own to mainly tackle Tibet-related activities in the wake of unrest in Tibet last year. When asked about regular visits paid by Chinese delegations to Nepal lately, a move seen by India as edging towards China, the recently resigned Maoist PM said the perception of Nepal tilting to China was a baseless one. The Maoist leader said India’s perception that Nepal was tilting to China was “highly exaggerated.” He instead admittedly tells that the Chinese officials visited Nepal to deal with “Tibet-related activities” in Nepal. “Last year, because of the Tibet situation, the Chinese side got more sensitive about Tibet-related activities going on in Nepal. I would like to say clearly that not a single (Chinese) delegation came to Nepal on my invitation,” Dahal said. “The initiative for these visits came solely from the Chinese side…mainly because of the Tibet crisis”, Prachanda tells The Hindu dated May 11, 2009. |
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Nepal had come under international criticism last year for its brutal treatment of Tibetan protesters, and was accused of acting under pressure from China.
Tibetans in Nepal staged some of the most sustained and regular anti-China protests in Kathmandu last year after unrest against Chinese rule in Tibet faced brutal Chinese military crackdown. The demonstrators mainly targeted Chinese embassy and its visa office in Kathmandu. Tibetan demonstrations were routinely stopped by Nepali police, often using excessive force. The demonstrators regularly faced arrests, intimidation and in some cases individual threats and arbitrary detention. Recent high-level visits by Chinese officials, including a delegation led by Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, repeatedly asked Nepal to effectively curb “Free-Tibet activities” while promising to increase assistance to the crisis-stricken country in return. A visit by Chinese delegation in February this year, forced the district administration in Kathmandu, which last year witnessed continuous protests by Tibetans for almost eight months, to impose an indefinite order to prohibit all protests near the Chinese embassy and its visa office. The ban came just days before the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising Day. —- |
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Tags: Free Tibet, Namgyal Rapper, Nepal, Tibet, Tibetan