What’s domestic, what’s foreign?
If foreign policy is an extension of domestic politics, our diplomacy is unsurprisingly messy. The government claims ‘diversification’ is at the heart of its foreign policy and has therefore tried to engage countries from around the world. This engagement’s most notable feature has been the many high-level foreign visits of top government officials, nearly everyone from the prime minister down. PM Oli even went to such exotic locations as Costa Rica and Cambodia, besides his more routine trips to India and China. What has come from these visits is unclear.
What is clear though is that the ruling Nepal Communist Party feels an ideological affinity for the Communist Party of China, and so Nepal has gotten progressively closer to its northern neighbor in the past two years. Part of it was warranted. Diversification in the Nepali context makes little sense without closer ties with China. But the chumminess between the establishments of the two countries could arguably hurt the diversification policy. For one, the closer Nepal gets to China, the greater will be the unease in New Delhi and Washington DC.
Fans of King Mahendra point out how the absolute monarch kept the country on track in its international dealings, even if his domestic policies were problematic. When the king charted a course, everyone followed, leading to consistency in dealings with the outside world. As he did not have to pander to any power center, the argument goes, his foreign policy was solely based on national interest. Another way of putting it is that authoritarian governments are better in some ways than democratic ones.
The picture is more nuanced. China has charted a clear foreign policy course under Xi Jinping. But its initiatives abroad generate great controversy just because China is not a democracy. While poorer countries readily open up to Beijing, they get warier as they get richer. On the other hand, even while big democracies like the US and India often betray their values, there is also this default goodwill toward them, at least in other democratic states. (Whether this goodwill is at all warranted is another matter.)
As many observers of Nepali diplomacy advocate, Nepal should emulate certain aspects of China (its meritocracy, its technological edge) while shunning its politics. Theoretically, this is possible. Yet the Chinese rulers also demand a guarantee for the huge investments they make in Nepal. What better way to ensure that than by supporting a strong power center—former monarchs before 2006, and the NCP now? But such a prospect spooks other democratic forces in Nepal, as well as its friends abroad.
Economic diplomacy has been getting plenty of hype of late, as Trump pushes for a pure mercantilist world. In this world, it is possible to diversify your economic ties while safeguarding your ‘traditional beliefs and values’. Contrary to popular belief, I have always held that nation-states are unique entities that have different priorities at home and abroad. For instance, while an abiding faith in human rights may be a country’s core national value, that too can be open to negotiation while conducting diplomacy. For both democracies and non-democracies the pursuit of the vaguely defined ‘national interests’ abroad is often cruelly undemocratic.
Buddhist varsity spreading wings after a spell of stagnation
When we think of a university, we imagine large infrastructures, numerous students, libraries, and research centers. But the prestigious Lumbini Buddhist University (LBU) was confined for a decade to a room in Kathmandu. Although the relevant law states that the central secretariat of the university would be in Lumbini, it was in Kathmandu until five years ago.
The tendency to appoint retired professors from the Tribhuvan University or other institutions restricted the growth of the LBU, just like it did with other universities, particularly those outside Kathmandu. The LBU made significant strides once local officials were appointed. After the appointment of Tilak Ram Acharya as the Registrar, university officials visited LBU for the first time. Because of their tendency to stay in Kathmandu, the university had long been unable to run classes. Professor Naresh Man Bajracharya, former Vice-Chancellor of LBU, had only spent only two months in a year in Lumbini.
The LBU, established in January 2005 following a summit on Buddhism, is considered an educational institute with distinctive features. It currently has about 1,000 students, and offers courses in Buddhist philosophy, art, religion, culture, and archeology. It started with a PhD program, but has been offering a master’s degree for around half a decade. It has now also added a bachelor’s program and a year-long intermediate degree language training program. An affiliate college in Butwal offers bachelor’s degrees in Travel and Tourism and Law (BALLB). Seven colleges in Kathmandu are also affiliated to the LBU.
“Now that we have been building infrastructures and running classes in Lumbini, the university is gradually expanding its horizons,” says Registrar Acharya. But LBU is still short of infrastructures. Officials say lack of support from the government, which has provided only limited funds, has been an obstacle to building other Buddhism-related infrastructures.
But the LBU has deployed its own resources to build hostels for students and quarters for officials and teachers. A research center (Rs 200 million) and a library (Rs 110 million) are also coming up.
Many universities teach Buddhist philosophy across the world. But for students of Buddhism, Lumbini holds a special place—which is why the LBU has the potential to be an education-tourism hub. But Registrar Acharya says more infrastructures are needed to realize the potential. As several archeological sites on the Buddhist circuit are yet to be studied, Acharya says the LBU will produce scholars able to do such research.
Devdaha in the district of Rupandehi is considered the home of Buddha’s mother. “We are in the process of acquiring land there and constructing infrastructures. Work will commence as soon as the council of ministers approves the acquisition,” says Acharya. The university also has plans to expand to Tilaurakot in Kapilvastu and Ramgram in Nawalparasi.
Most tourists to Lumbini pay a visit to the university, which has been drawing increasing attention since the construction, at a cost of Rs 70 million, of a stupa on its premises. The stupa is special because it contains Buddha’s remains, which was transferred there with the help of Burmese monks.
The MCC muddle
Is the Millennium Challenge Cooperation compact a part of the US Indo-Pacific Strategy? American officials say it certainly is. Our government says it definitely is not. One of them has to be wrong—and it is our government. The grant giver gets to decide how to classify its money. The taker then has the choice of either accepting or rejecting the offer. The Nepal government has adopted a strange position. It cannot say it will accept the MCC, despite it being a part of the IPS, as the electricity and road projects under it are vital for our development.
It is instead saying that the grant givers themselves don’t know what they are talking about.It is also interesting how the MCC debate has been framed. Even the most ardent opponents of the MCC in the ruling party have no problem with the compact if the Americans clarify that it is not part of the IPS. What is wrong in this principled position? Isn’t it the Americans who have added to the confusion about the MCC by trying to retrospectively lump it under the IPS? The Nepal government says it will accept the MCC but not the IPS. But what if you can’t separate them?
Again, I am not qualified enough to work out the project’s economic benefits for Nepal. In fact, the cross-border transmission lines the $500m grant will help build might be in Nepal’s interest. All I want is for our government to stop fooling us. The NCP leaders in the government must be under tremendous US pressure to ratify the compact. Those of them outside the government are under less pressure and can voice their concerns—as they rightly have.
The American ambassador says if Nepal rejects the grant, it will go to some other country, and Nepal will lose out. If so, why is the US so insistent that Nepal accept the grant? Why not give it to another needy country and teach Nepal a lesson? But, no, the Americans are putting all kinds of pressure on the government to accept it. This only adds to the suspicion that the MCC, just like the IPS, has an ulterior motive. Yes, there is no mention of any IPS stuff in the MCC documents. But what if the Americans argue tomorrow that the MCC was approved by the Nepali parliament after it was declared a part of the IPS, and hence Nepal ipso facto accepts the IPS?
Either our government is so naïve that it has started believing in free lunches in international relations. Or it has been put under so much pressure it has become impossible to put off the MCC any longer. Whenever we get any assistance in cash or kind from abroad, be it from India, China, or the US, the first question to be asked is: Is it in our national interest? If the MCC is in our interest, why so blatantly lie to get it approved? If it is not, the near two-third Oli government, I am afraid, is a bit of a paper tiger unsuited to dealing with the new geopolitical challenges facing Nepal.
Where the hell is the plane?
Six years after building a runway, an airplane carried out a test flight to the mountainous district of Manang on September 13. Summit Air, a private airline company, had conducted the test flight. Chief Minister of Gandaki Province, Prithvi Subba Gurung, and Provincial Minister for Industry, Tourism and Environment, Bikash Lamsal, both of whom were on the test flight, vowed regular flights would start on September 27.
“We looked at the sky all day long on September 27 awaiting an airplane, but none arrived,” says Chyungda Gurung from Humde in Manang. “We have been hearing for three months that there will be regular flights. Where are they?” she asks. The unfulfilled promise has left the locals like her bitterly disappointed.
Kanchha Ghale, chairperson of Manang Ngisyang Rural Municipality, says this is not the first time the people of Manang have been duped. Earlier, too, they had been promised flights from Humde. Minister Lamsal had said regular flights, targeting Domestic Tourism Year 2019 and Visit Nepal 2020, would soon be operated—tono avail.
Binod Gurung, President of Manang Tourism Management Committee, says tourists, including those without much time to spend here, have also been deprived of an opportunity to fly to Manang. Over 250 tourists visit Manang every day, most of them via Pokhara. “It would have been better if the authorities had said they could not do it,” adds Gurung.
Minister Lamsal claims efforts are still being made to start regular flights to Manang. “There were various reasons our efforts did not succeed. We are still discussing the plan,” he says. “We have held discussions with Summit Air and Nepal Airlines, the national flag carrier.”
In December 2013, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal had blacktopped the runway at a cost of Rs 90 million. A 600-meter runway was extended to 900 meters. Following the blacktopping, several ministers and CAAN officials had flown to the Humde airport as part of an inspection visit. But the airport has remained closedsince 2013.
Two years after the runway was blacktopped, a Dornier aircraft of Tara Air conducted a test flight to Manang. But no subsequent flights have been seen. More recently, preparations for starting flights were made on January 9 and July 5. But nothing came of them either. Before the runway was blacktopped, Nepal Airlines used to operate regular flights to Manang, twice a week.
Flights to and from Humde started in July 1982. Back then, two regular flights used to be operated every week from Humde. Locals say that flights stopped when a road track to Manang opened.
A flight from Pokhara to Manang takes around 25 minutes. CAAN’s air traffic controller Surya Bahadur Khatri says planes cannot fly to Manang in snowy or rainy weather.
