By Our Reporter
With US effort to globalise NATO and the open challenge to the move by China and Russia has increased the sensitivity of the small nations like Nepal which lies in the strategic geography.
At a time when the Russian invasion of Ukraine has put the sovereignty of small nations at high risk because the incident has shown that small nations may not get support to safeguard their sovereignty when a powerful nation attacks them.
Not odd, the Ukraine leadership challenged neighbouring Russia under the provocation of the USA. When the war started, the USA didn’t come to fight against Russia. NATO member countries denied Ukraine from giving immediate membership to Ukraine, so far, agreed to supply sophisticated arms to Ukraine. The message is clear, Ukraine should fight alone with Russia and the West wants to prolong the war further.
As such, small nations should be careful to avoid such incidents through diplomatic measures. However, Nepali leaders hardly seem to be serious about this fact. The growing visits to Nepal by US officials and the counter visits by Chinese officials have increased fear of whether Nepal could turn into a battleground for the superpowers of the world.
Last week, American Assistant Secretary Donald Lu paid a one-day visit to Nepal. Lu was here to discuss the issue relating to the implementation of the MCC project. Immediately after Lu left, a Chinese team was said to arrive in Kathmandu.
It is said that China is not happy with Nepal for accepting the MCC grant, because it feared the US through the MCC could spy on China from Nepal. Again, no project related to BRI has proceeded in Nepal. Although the Chinese officials claimed that Pokhara airport was a BRI project in Nepal, Foreign Minister NP Saud outright rejected the claim stating that no project under BRI has proceeded. Such conflicting views may only harm the two neighbours.
Of course, the growing polarization of world powers after the Russian invasion of Ukraine demands a careful conduction of foreign policy by each country, but Nepal seems to lack this.
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