Tailoring BRI under the Nepalese Flag

On December 4, 2024, Nepal and China signed a common framework for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) cooperation. The ruling coalition—Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML)—negotiated and introduced the framework as an "Aid Financing Assistance" model. A couple of months have passed, and while the Chinese side appears determined to move forward with concrete project planning, the Nepalese government’s response to BRI has been rather tepid.