China’s ambassador to Nepal has emerged as a major dealmaker in the political duel happening between Nepal’s prime minister and the co-chairman of the Nepalese Communist Party, which both represent.
“China wants the Nepalese Communist Party [NCP] to continue in power for its benefit,” Dr. S. Chandrasekharan, director of the South Asia Analysis Group, told The Epoch Times over the phone from New Delhi. According to him, after China, North Korea, and Vietnam, Nepal is the country with the largest number of Communist Party members.
This isn’t the first time Hou has intervened in the persisting problems of Nepal’s ruling alliance. She had earlier on July 5 also talked with senior NCP leader and former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, and on the same day, she called Nepalese President Bidya Devi Bhandari, whom Indian media link with the current political crisis.
Chandrasekharan, who served as an Indian diplomat in Nepal for four years, said Hou’s role was decisive in reaching a deal between the two leaders, and it has enabled the government to survive.
“The active role of the Chinese Ambassador, who met the individual leaders more than once to ensure that the party does not split at any cost due to differences within the top leadership, was decisive. Her approach of unity through continuous dialogue won the day and perhaps that a final outcome should be through a consensus was also her idea,” he wrote in an analysis published on July 23 on the South Asia Analysis Group’s portal.
Hou, who according to the Hindustan Times has a PLA intelligence background, is set to play a greater role in Nepalese internal politics as the alliance’s standing committee meets on July 28 to decide on the cabinet reshuffle.
Another Indian political analyst, Harsh Pant, told The Epoch Times over the phone from New Delhi that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) may get some leverage in South Asia by the role it’s playing in Nepal’s internal politics, but there could likely be pitfalls.
“The CCP does get some short-term advantage, but whether it will give it any strategic advantage is not readily evident, as an explicit role in government formation in Nepal might make Beijing unpopular in Nepal,” said Pant, who works with the Observer’s Research Foundation.
Pant said that Hou is also interested in Nepal’s internal politics because the CCP and the NCP share a close connection.
