China's CPC to Hold 'Party Briefing' in Nepal! Why India Will Be Concerned

The Communist Party of China (CPC) will hold a rare party briefing in Nepal on Sunday. What is Beijing signaling? Experts speak to ETV Bharat.

New Delhi: In what can be described as an extraordinary development and yet another attempt by China to influence the political landscape of Nepal, the Communist Party of China (CPC) will be holding a party meeting in Kathmandu on Sunday to which Nepali political leaders have been invited.

According to a report in the Kathmandu Post, the CPC has invited 15 leaders each of all political parties having seats in the House of Representatives in Nepal’s parliament to what is being described as a “rare party briefing”. What is even more surprising is that the CPC did not seek formal permission from the Nepal government to hold the event at a hotel in Kathmandu but merely informed the country’s foreign ministry which then gave the go-ahead without further consultation.

In fact, Narayan Dahal, Chairman of the National Assembly of Nepal’s parliament, has been invited as the chief guest for the event. There are 14 political parties that have seats in the 275-member House of Representatives.

“The International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (IDCPC) and CPC Qinghai Provincial Committee presents its compliments to your party and has the honour to advise the following,” the Post report cited the invitation letter sent to one of the national parties as reading. “The IDCPC and CPC Qinghai Provincial Committee plans to co-host the briefing on the 3rd Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee at 14:30 p.m. on October 20th, at the Hotel Yak and Yeti in Kathmandu, Nepal.”

The theme of Sunday’s “briefing” is ‘Sharing the Opportunities Brought by Chinese Modernisation and Deepening the Trans-Himalaya Cooperation’.

“We cordially invite 15 representatives of your party/organisation to participate in this event,” the invitation letter to the national party accessed by the Post reads without mentioning who from the IDCPC and CPC Qinghai Provincial Committee will address the meeting.

Even Nepali lawmakers, including Communist leaders, have expressed surprise at the holding of this event. Questions are being raised about whether a political party of another country can be allowed to hold a meeting in Nepal.

“We are hearing of such practice for the first time in Nepal,” the Post report quoted leader of the Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), which is part of the ruling coalition government, as saying. “Since they invited us, we have to attend the event but it is up to the government to decide whether the political party from another country should invite us for internal party meetings. It is up to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to decide.”

Arjun Thapa, head of the international department of Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal, described the event as “a kind of propaganda meeting”.

“Someone from the party including some half a dozen party leaders will attend the briefing,” Thapa was quoted as a saying.

However, a joint secretary in the Nepal foreign ministry, justified allowing the CPC to hold such a meeting saying that practices a different political system. According to the Post report, the joint secretary said that since the CPC unilaterally runs the government in China, the foreign ministry did not stop it from holding the meeting.

However, this is not the first time that China has tried to influence politics in Nepal. China’s influence in Nepal must be understood within the context of its larger geopolitical strategy, particularly its rivalry with India and efforts to exert influence over South Asia. China has employed a range of strategies to strengthen its ties with Nepal, including political outreach, economic investment, and support for infrastructure development. One key aspect of China's engagement is to prevent Nepal from aligning too closely with India or being used as a base for anti-China activities, especially those related to the Tibetan independence movement.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been a major avenue for strengthening its influence in Nepal. Though Nepal joined the BRI in 2017, it is yet to accept the terms and conditions put forward by Beijing fearing a debt trap.

China’s political engagement with Nepal has been bolstered by its relationships with Nepal’s Communist parties. When Nepal adopted a federal democratic republic constitution in 2015, the two leading communist parties – CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre - played a pivotal role. China saw an opportunity to strengthen ties with these parties, particularly after the formation of a unified Communist government led by KP Sharma Oli in 2018.

However, what has sparked surprise is the blatant manner in which the CPC is going ahead to hold the meeting in Nepal’s capital on Sunday.

Describing the event to be held on Sunday as “quite extraordinary”, Harsh V Pant, Professor of International Relations with King’s India Institute at King’s College London and Vice-President (Studies and Foreign Policy) at the Observer Research Foundation think tank, said that this goes way beyond state-to-state relations.

“You can have ideological affinity with parties in other countries,” Pant told ETV Bharat. “But the CPC cannot see Nepal as its extension.”

He said that China is trying to use the CPC as its central instrument of engagement with Nepal.

“China is trying to play up that Communism is dominating the politics of Nepal,” he said.

According to Pant, China knows that whatever it does in Nepal it cannot match India’s soft power like cultural, religious and linguistic ties with the Himalayan nation. As such, they are trying to play a different game which might well backfire.

However, at the same time, he said: “For India, it (Sunday’s meeting) will be a matter of concern. Apart from China’s active diplomacy in Nepal, Beijing is now using the CPC as a lever.”

In fact, earlier this month, following the devastating floods in Nepal, it was the CPC, instead of the Chinese government, that provided relief material to the Himalayan nation. And that time too, the material was given to political parties in Nepal to be distributed among the affected people.

This had also drawn criticism from various circles in Nepal. A political leader had told the Post at that time on the condition of anonymity that extending direct support from foreign political parties to the political parties of another country is a very bad practice.

“But we were told by the party’s senior leaders to attend the event, so we went there but none of us were comfortable while receiving the support,” the leader had said.

India, on the other hand, had provided relief material to Nepal only through official channels as is the norm.

According to a scholar in India who follows Nepal issues closely, one has to take note of the fact that China has been investing power plants and airports in the Himalayan country and is giving scholarships to Nepali citizens.

“Now, China has alignments with political parties in Nepal,” the scholar said on the condition of anonymity. “The very fact that the CPC is not holding Sunday’s meeting in a confidential manner shows that it wants the event to be in the news.”

The 3rd Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee was held in July this year. Among others, the proposals made during the session include China’s commitment to opening up to the global economy, strengthening mechanisms for foreign trade reform, improving investment management systems, and fostering high-quality cooperation under the BRI.

Question is: what is Beijing’s agenda in holding the CPC “party briefing” in Kathmandu so openly? Watch this space.