Nepal’s flood-hit China trade route exposes risks in its push to diversify from India
- KATHMANDU/BEIJING: More than six decades ago, Nepal's King Mahendra defied concerns about opening his Himalayan kingdom to communist China and backed the construction of a highway from Kathmandu to the Tibetan frontier.
- It was both a road and a statement of intent: landlocked Nepal, overwhelmingly dependent on India for access to the outside world, wanted another way north.
- Amid fears that the highway could become a conduit for Chinese influence, Mahendra famously said that “communism does not travel by taxi”.
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- KATHMANDU/BEIJING: More than six decades ago, Nepal's King Mahendra defied concerns about opening his Himalayan kingdom to communist China and backed the construction of a highway from Kathmandu to the Tibetan frontier.
- It was both a road and a statement of intent: landlocked Nepal, overwhelmingly dependent on India for access to the outside world, wanted another way north.
- Amid fears that the highway could become a conduit for Chinese influence, Mahendra famously said that “communism does not travel by taxi”.
Sources: CNA