Nepal pushes to end dependency on India with China rail, tunnel deals
Beijing
Chinese President Xi Jinping warned on Sunday that any attempt to divide China will be crushed, as Beijing faces political challenges in months-long protests in Hong Kong.
“Anyone attempting to split China in any part of the country will end in crushed bodies and shattered bones,” he told Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in a meeting on Sunday, according to China’s state broadcaster CCTV. “And any external forces backing such attempts dividing China will be deemed by the Chinese people as pipe-dreaming!” he said
Xi, the first Chinese president to visit Nepal in 22 years, arrived in Nepal on Saturday on a state visit. Both sides are expected to sign a deal expanding a railway link between the Himalayan nation and Tibet.
Nepal’s Oli told Xi that the country will oppose any “anti-China activities” on its soil, CCTV reported. CCTV Chinese President Xi Jinping wound up two days of meetings in Nepal on Sunday with separate deals for a rail link to Tibet and a tunnel, an official said, as the Himalayan nation seeks to end an Indian dominance over its trade routes by increasing connectivity with Beijing.
The 70-km rail link will connect Gyiron in Tibet with Nepal’s capital city of Kathmandu, making it one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in the country.
A Chinese team has already conducted a preliminary study for the project, which will be part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Xi’s signature diplomatic and trade push that is attempting to recreate the old Silk Road joining China with Asia and Europe. Alongside, a proposed 28-km road tunnel will more than halve the distance from Kathmandu to the Chinese border, saving on time and cost. A spokesperson for Nepal’s Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, told Reuters that President Xi warned attempts to divide China will end in ‘shattered bones’
“China will now conduct a feasibility study of the rail project and help construct the tunnel way,” Rajeshor Gyawali. Nepal has sought to increase connectivity with China since a blockade along its border with India resulted in several months of acute shortage of fuel and medicine in 2015 and 2016. “These facilities will give us alternative trade routes when we face border blockades,” Gyawali said.
“We will help Nepal realize its dream of becoming a land-linked country from a land-locked one,” Xi said at a dinner on Saturday after he arrived from India where he had informal meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Chinese President Xi Jinping warned on Sunday that any attempt to divide China will be crushed, as Beijing faces political challenges in months-long protests in Hong Kong.
“Anyone attempting to split China in any part of the country will end in crushed bodies and shattered bones,” he told Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in a meeting on Sunday, according to China’s state broadcaster CCTV. “And any external forces backing such attempts dividing China will be deemed by the Chinese people as pipe-dreaming!” he was quoted as saying. — Agencies
