China today welcomed Nepal's Constitution, describing it as "a historic progress in the political transition of the country", months after India had pressed Nepal to address concerns of the Madhesis under the new statute to make it broad-based and acceptable to all.
China's statement welcoming Nepal's new Constitution comes during the ongoing maiden visit to China by Prime Minister K P Oli who left Beijing today for the Boao Summit in Hainan Province.
"The Chinese side welcomed the promulgation of the Constitution in Nepal and regarded it as a historic progress in the political transition of Nepal," said a joint statement issued at the end of talks between Oli and Chinese leaders.
China expressed "sincere hope that Nepal could take this opportunity to realise its political stability and economic development".
"The bilateral relations maintained the momentum of healthy development on the basis of the Five Principle of Peaceful Coexistence, which sets a model of harmonious coexistence between the countries of different sizes and social system," the joint statement said.
"The two sides reiterated their firm commitment to respect each other's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, respect and accommodate each other's concerns and core interests," according to the joint statement.
When Nepal promulgated its new Constitution on September 20, India had asked the country to resolve differences over the new charter through dialogue free from violence which would enable broad-based ownership and acceptance.
"Throughout the process of Constitution-making in Nepal, India has supported a federal, democratic, republican and inclusive Constitution. We note the promulgation in Nepal today of a Constitution," India had said taking note of the development.
Madhesis, who are largely of Indian-origin, organised a nearly six-month violent protest campaign also imposing a trade blockade with India over the newly-promulgated Constitution which they said discriminated against them.
They only withdrew the campaign that crippled essential supplies to the Himalayan nation and left over 50 people dead, after the Constitution was amended to include their participation in government institutions in proportion to their population and fresh delineation of electoral constituencies.
"The Chinese side will implement a 3-billion-yuan grant assistance from 2016 to 2018 to support the post-earthquake reconstruction of Nepal, to carry out 25 key projects in areas covering infrastructure construction," the joint statement said.
While striking key deals with Nepal, President Xi Jinping
said in his meeting with Oli that Nepal could be a bridge between India and China.
"Nepal can be a bridge between China and India," Xi said and hoped that the Himalayan nation would benefit from development in China and India as "it is in the common interest of the two big neighbours that Nepal enjoys stability and development".
China will also implement projects for recovery of people's livelihood in quake-stricken areas of northern Nepal, repair of cultural and historic sites, capacity building in disaster prevention and control as well as medical and public health cooperation, the joint statement said.
"The Chinese side agreed to provide more than 32,000 sets of household solar-power generation systems to Nepal, to build small-sized education and public health facilities in several selected locations in Nepal, and to enhance cooperation on disaster preparedness and mitigation.
"The Chinese side agreed to carry out rainwater harvesting project and other livelihood projects in Nepal to improve living standard of the local people," it said.
Oli arrived here on March 20 and the two sides signed 10 agreements including for a transit treaty and rail links during his talks with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang.
The transit treaty reduces landlocked Nepal's dependence on India as it sources most of imports and exports through Kolkata port.
Nepal looks to source its supplies through the arduous Himalayan route through Tibet, which many analysts say will be an expensive proposition for Nepal considering easy proximity through the Indian border.
Nepal also looks to use China's port in Guangzhou for its import and export, officials said.
The joint statement also said both sides agreed to conclude a commercial deal on the supply of petroleum products from China to Nepal.
"In this context, they encouraged companies to speed up negotiations and concerned agencies to study providing supporting policies on issues of pricing, taxation, transportation, quality control and customs and frontier formalities," it said.
"The Chinese side agreed to build oil storage facilities for Nepal and will send experts to Nepal to carry out feasibility study on oil and gas resources research," it said.
China earlier supplied 1,000 mt of fuel to Nepal during the Madhesi blockade.
"The two sides agreed to establish a Dialogue Mechanism on Energy Cooperation to facilitate the long term planning of cooperation in this area, including trans-border power grid, hydro-power and solar power. The Nepalese side agreed to take necessary steps to facilitate Chinese enterprises and their investment in Nepal," it said.
