People here Tuesday demonstrated in front of the Chinese embassy to protest against the interference of Chinese ambassador Hou Yanqi in Nepal’s political affairs.
Civil society demonstrators carried posters and raised slogans protesting Hou’s increased meeting with the Himalayan nation’s ruling politicians.
“All the foreign interventions in our country, we stand against it… We are turning a blind eye on what we were doing to stop the Chinese intervention and less concerned. Amidst that, Yanqi who is on run to manage our internal issue, solve the ongoing problem inside the ruling Nepal <www.aninews.in/topic/nepal> Communist Party, we have stood against it” Aliza Dhakal, a protestor told ANI.
As rift inside Nepal <www.aninews.in/topic/nepal>’s ruling party, Nepal <www.aninews.in/topic/nepal> Communist Party (NCP), intensified the Chinese Ambassador <www.aninews.in/topic/chinese-ambassador> has been holding meetings with leaders of the ruling party as well as the President Bidya Bhandari.
On Sunday, Hou met the senior leader of the NCP, Madhav Kumar Nepal <www.aninews.in/topic/nepal> as well as President Bhandari and discussed various issues pertaining to the rift inside the party.
She also met another NCP senior leader, Jhalnath Khanal, on Tuesday morning and discussed various issues.
The meeting of Central Standing Committee of the ruling party has deferred till Wednesday 11 am with the potential of being postponed further as the duo chair- Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal-are yet to agree to a point for a solution to the ongoing problem.
Speaking on the recent Hou’s meetings, Chinese Embassy spokesperson Zhang Si said, “The embassy keeps good relationships with Nepal <www.aninews.in/topic/nepal>i leaders and is ready to exchange views on issues of common interest at any convenient time.”
While Nepal and China call their meetings merely to maintain a good relationship, it is speculated that Beijing may wish to expand its political doctrine to Nepal.
The Kathmandu Post reported that some Foreign Ministry officials have stated that the Office of the President has repeatedly breached the diplomatic code of conduct.
It was also stated that the Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who was posted at the office of the President, whose role is to brief the President on possible meetings with foreign dignitaries and ambassadors, was not aware of the meeting between Bhandari and Hou.
“As per the diplomatic code of conduct, Foreign Ministry officials should be present at such meetings, but we were not informed…So there is no institutional record of the meetings and we don’t know what the talking points were,” the ministry official was quoted by the Post, ANI reported.