Panchasheel: Keystone Of Nepal’s Foreign Policy

The Buddhist precept of Panchasheel, the five principles of peaceful existence, has been first included in the communiqué on the Trade and Intercourse Agreement signed by India and China on April 29, 1954 in Beijing. It embodies the five basic principles: mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference in the internal affairs of other nations, equality and cooperation for mutual benefit. It represents the Pan-Asian version of international relations and has some modern-day relevance for small states like Nepal to define its place. Its edifice reflects the middle way between the leaders’ desire to import modernisation ideals and institutions of the West and preserving the sanity of their tradition and solving problems of mutual coexistence without the interference of outside powers. Both prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru of India and Zhou En Lai of China expressed their special responsibility for Asia.