Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Nepal and China are set to resume bilateral military and defence engagements that were stalled due to the Covid pandemic. This includes suspended ministry exercise between Nepali and Chinese People’s Liberation Army, other military training like the national defence course in China and other engagements, The Kathmandu Post reports.
“Major General of the Tibet Military Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Yue Ande, is in Kathmandu. He held talks with the Nepalese Army Chief General Prabhu Ram Sharma. This indicates the resumption of military engagements between the two nations,’’ says a source adding that Maj Gen Yue is leading an 8-member border defence delegation.
It is learnt that Nepalese army officials will be attending the National Defence College (NDC) course in China under the `Sagarmatha Friendship.’
“The joint exercises will basically cater to fighting insurgency, disaster response and management and also high-altitude warfare,” a source added.
Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on Nepal’s Vice President, Ramsahaya Prasad in Kunming on the sidelines of the China-South Asia Expo. Nepal, which has been invited as the country of honour in the Expo, had taken along a 100-member strong Nepalese delegation to participate in the Expo.
Chinese Foreign Ministry statement read that Yadav told Wang Yi that Nepal and China are close partners who cooperate and support each other in various fields including strategic cooperation and building mutual trust.
“We are willing to work with the Nepali side to promote development and prosperity-oriented strategic partnership of friendship,” Wang said, according to The Kathmandu Post. “The two sides should continue to promote the construction of the trans-Himalayan multi-dimensional connectivity network and jointly build high-quality projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, speed up the feasibility study of cross-border railways, and help the development and revitalization of Nepal.”
Indeed, India and Nepal are friendly neighbours and share an 1850 km open border. Exercise “Surya Kiran” is conducted annually between India and Nepal with the aim to enhance interoperability in jungle warfare and counter-terrorism operations in mountainous terrain and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) under UN mandate.