Kathmandu: Chinese foreign minister and State Councilor Wang Yi is expected to visit India on an “exploratory” mission to improve bilateral relations after his two-day trip to Kathmandu to firmly push the Belt-Road Initiative (BRI) in Nepal. Wang is expected to visit Nepal on March 26-27 after which he will come to India.
According to diplomats based in New Delhi and Kathmandu, the real reason for the Chinese foreign minister’s visit is to balance equations in Kathmandu with the Sher Bahadur Deuba government ratifying the USD 500 million grant from the US for improving electricity supply and roads in Nepal on February 27, 2022. Signed in September 2017, the Millennium Challenge Corporation Nepal Compact grant was caught in the Communist-dominated politics of Nepal with Beijing adding fuel to the fire. The grant was ratified after the Biden administration leaned heavily on Nepal and its mercurial lawmakers with February 28, 2022, as the deadline. Following this, a 25 member US Congressional delegation is expected in Kathmandu in April 2022.