China announces $119 million in aid to Nepal/ENG

DHARAMSHALA, January 15: In his five-hour long stop over in Nepal on Saturday, Chinese Premiere Wen Jiabao gave Nepal a late new year gift worth $119 million in aid.

The meeting, which is being hailed as a “milestone,” taking Nepal-China relations to “new height”, was announced only hours before Wen’s actual arrival and mostly remained out of bounds for the media.

Wen held talks with Nepal's Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai and met with Nepalese President Ram Baran Yadav, Sushil Koirala of the Nepali Congress and Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).

In a joint statement issued by the two sides after the meeting, Nepal renewed its commitment to one-China policy while re-affirming that it will not allow anti-China activities on its soil.

“The Nepalese side reiterated that there is only one China in the world, and the Government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China,” the statement read.

“Both Taiwan and Tibet are integral parts of the Chinese territory”.

The statement went on to say the Nepalese side “does not allow any forces to use Nepalese territory for any anti-China or separatist activities” while noting the Chinese “highly appreciated the position of the Nepalese side”.

Nepal, which is home to a large number of Tibetan refugees, has severely clamped down on the freedom and rights of the Tibetans, even shutting down their main representative office in the capital.

Tirtha Wagle, the Nepalese foreign ministry spokesman, said the countries signed agreements under which Beijing will provide economic and technical assistance and strengthen Nepal's police.

Announcing the year 2012 as "Nepal-China Year of Friendly Exchanges", the two sides signed eight agreements on infrastructure development, which includes upgrading and expansion of existing Ring Road of Kathmandu and the construction of Pokhara International Airport.

The two sides also agreed to “deepen cooperation” on border management and law-enforcement capacity-building, in order to “uphold peace and stability of China-Nepal border areas”.