Chinese envoy’s meeting with Nepal’s President raises suspicion of Beijing’s meddling

The meeting of China’s Ambassador Hou Yanqi with Nepal’s President Bidya Bhandari and other senior officials, violating diplomatic protocols, have raised concerns about possible Chinese meddling in country’s internal affairs. A political turmoil in underway in Nepal as Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has been facing opposition from within the party for his style of functioning and anti-India statements.

According to local media reports, some Foreign Ministry officials have raised the issue of repetitive violation of diplomatic code of conduct by the President’s Office. The under-secretary from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, posted at the President’s Office, was reportedly not informed about the meeting between Bhandari and Hou.

"As per the diplomatic code of conduct, Foreign Ministry officials should be present at such meetings, but we were not informed...So there is no institutional record of the meetings and we don't know what the talking points were," the ministry official was quoted by the Post.

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Crucial talks between Oli and the ruling party's executive chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' on the issue of power-sharing has been deferred until July 8. Oli recently met with the opposition Nepali Congress chief Sher Bahadur Deuba the same day he met Chief of Army Staff General Purna Chandra Thapa, triggering speculations of Oli seeking his support to save his government if the ruling party splits. 

'Ready to exchange views'

Political analysts believe that Hou has been trying to shore up the position of Oli and urged party leaders, in earlier meetings, to remain united and avoid any split. She also reportedly met senior politician Madhav Kumar Nepal, who heads the foreign relations department of NCP but the details of the meeting have been kept secret.

 "The embassy keeps good relationships with Nepali leaders and is ready to exchange views on issues of common interest at any convenient time," Chinese Embassy spokesperson Zhang Si was quoted as saying.

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(With ANI inputs)