Nepal’s Foreign Ministry takes a jibe at India

@Kunal_Chonkar

From defending PM Oli over his controversial remark on Ayodhya, to erasing his handwriting from the protest note sent to India, the Nepalese MFA invigorated by Chinese tea is challenging New Delhi over claims on the border region

New Delhi: In less than four days, after it defended Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s remark on Ayodhya, the Nepalese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) attacked India on its diplomacy skills. After issuing a clarification on Oli’s statement, the MFA took a fresh jibe at their counterparts in South Block over the handling of the border dispute. 

While on 14 July, the MFA attempted to bury the controversy raised by Oli, on 18 July, Minister of Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali created another issue by criticizing India for failing to gauge the ‘seriousness’ of the border issue between New Delhi and Kathmandu. 

Addressing a social event in Tamghas, Gulmi district Gyawali held India responsible for the border fiasco between the two Himalayan neighbors. Gyawali said that New Delhi never responded to the diplomatic notes sent by Kathmandu. He stressed that India ignored the issue twice and continued its work on the road in Uttarakhand, up to Lipu Lekh pass on the China border. 

The minister also exuded confidence in his government’s determination to claim the border territory. During his speech, Gyawali said that the Oli-led government is making all efforts to ‘reclaim’ the land. He added that Kathmandu plans to move ahead with its decision by ‘taking all stakeholders in confidence.’

MFA Rejects Protest Note

Even last week the MFA came to the rescue of the Prime Minister’s Office. The Gyawali-led ministry rushed to reject reports stating that Nepal had sent a protest note to India. 

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The MFA tried to dilute a reportedly ‘strongly worded diplomatic note’ sent on the instructions of the PMO with approvals from the Chief Secretary to the Nepalese Embassy in New Delhi directed at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. The reported note lodged a protest over Indian media reports on the ‘special ties’ between Oli and Chinese Ambassador Hou Yanqi. 

However, Kathmandu and its staffers expressed surprise, when the developments surfaced with media on both sides of the border. 

Chinese Whispers Aloud

Meanwhile, even after been schooled by the subcontinent media for violating diplomatic protocols, China continued to hold ‘surprise visits’ and ‘informal tea sessions’ in Kathmandu. Ambassador Yanqi who was earlier reported of staging clandestine interactions with senior Nepalese ministers, Communist party leaders, administrative officials, and military officers, since May, continued on her route.

According to sources, on 16 July – two days after the MFA defended Oli, and two days before Gyawali criticized New Delhi – Ambassador Yanqi held a meeting with the minister. Speaking to The News21, sources in the MFA claimed that the meeting between the Chinese Chief of Mission in Nepal and Gyawali lasted for around 45 minutes. 

Both the Chinese diplomatic mission in Nepal and the MFA officially denied providing any details of the meeting.