Guilt by silence

If Nepal has not endorsed China’s Global Security Initiative, it must say so categorically.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli took a meaningful first step towards the resolution of the Lipulekh dispute when, in a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the city of Tianjin on Saturday, he objected to India-China agreement on re-opening a trade route through the border pass. But whatever goodwill he might have earned in the process was quickly lost when his supposed backing for China’s Global Security Initiative (GSI) became public. According to a statement by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued on the same day, “Nepal supports the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative proposed by China.” Successive Nepali governments have declined to be a part of the GSI, a Chinese security construct that is believed to have emerged as a counterweight to the global American military dominance.