Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said that Nepal should maintain ‘equidistant relationship’ with her immediate neighbors China and India to safeguard her national interests.
Addressing a one-day conference on 'Nepal's National Interest: Policies and Recommendation' organized by Centre for South Asian Studies in Kathmandu, Wednesday, the prime minister said that siding only with any of these immediate neighbors would pose serious threats to Nepal’s national security.
The prime minister also urged all political parties in the country to lay more importance to national security guided by the principle of Panchsheel which includes mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence, non-aggression, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit and peaceful co-existence.
The prime minister’s remarks come at a time when New Delhi is said to be miffed with the growing engagement of Nepal’s largest political party—Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)—with Beijing. The Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who held talks with the Chinese premier and other senior leaders of the Chinese Communist Party during a week-long trip, returned home on Monday.
Referring to neighboring countries China and India whose relationship had hit an all-time low following some disputes regarding their border, the prime minister said Nepal must maintain cordial relationships with both of its neighboring countries without siding with any of the country.
The prime minister, who has already visited India, is expected to make an official visit to China sometime in next month.
Beijing has repeatedly expressed its displeasure with Kathmandu over anti-China protest activities of Tibetan refugees, who allegedly come to Kathmandu all the way from Dharmashala, India, in Nepali soil.
- Asian Tribune -
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