Suchergebnisse

Chapter 1. Nepal's Neutrality in Present Context -- Chapter 2. India's Perception of Nepal-China Relations -- Chapter 3. China's perception of Nepal-India Relations -- Chapter 4. From Survival to Sustenance -- Chapter 5. Relevance of Neutrality -- Chapter 6. Salability of perceiving Nepal as a Small Power -- Chapter 7. Rise with Responsibility. .

Although discussion about connecting Chinese railways to Nepal borders first surfaced in the year 1973, it could not make any headway until the political change of 2006 in Nepal, when the idea of linking Tibet with Kathmandu resurfaced again. However, political instability in Nepal further thwarted it, at least until Nepal faced the Indian blockade in 2015 and had to look for ways to diversify its trade and transit. Thus, for Nepal, China's railways offer an escape from its dependence on India for trade and transit. But, for Beijing, it offers a strategic gateway to enter South Asia, which is India's conventional sphere of influence. Although Nepal and its northern neighbor China have agreed to connect Nepal's capital Kathmandu with the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China through railways, the materialization of such a game-changer is not free from challenges. Against the same backdrop, the objective of this study is to discover various challenges faced by the trans-Himalayan railways including political, bureaucratic, economic, and environmental challenges, and to concurrently identify how the geopolitical challenge tops the list, halting Nepal's ambition to 'bridge' India and China and instead aggravating the possibility of becoming a burden to both the Asian giants. While the available literature on China and South Asia is mostly concentrated on Belt and Road (BRI) projects, 'debt trap' narratives, and geopolitical rivalry between India and China, this study would be a new attempt to understand how China's aim to get connected with South Asia via land is not free of impediments. Using the qualitative method, this study reviews the geopolitical challenges confronted by the trans-Himalayan railway in the context of territorial disputes between India and China in the Himalayan region and the U.S.-Indian strategic partnership to contain the rise of China and its ambitious connectivity projects.

Although discussion about connecting Chinese railways to Nepal borders first surfaced in the year 1973, it couldn't make any headway until the political change of 2006 in Nepal, when the idea of linking Tibet with Kathmandu resurfaced again. However, political instability in Nepal further thwarted it, at least until Nepal faced the Indian blockade in 2015 and had to look for ways to diversify its trade and transit. Thus, for Nepal, China's railways offer an escape from its dependence on India for trade and transit. But, for Beijing, it offers a strategic gateway to enter South Asia, which is India's conventional sphere of influence. Although Nepal and its northern neighbor China have agreed to connect Nepal's capital Kathmandu with the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China through railways, the materialization of such a game-changer is not free from challenges. Against the same backdrop, the objective of this study is to discover various challenges faced by the trans-Himalayan railways including political, bureaucratic, economic, and environmental challenges, and to concurrently identify how the geopolitical challenge tops the list, halting Nepal's ambition to 'bridge' India and China and instead aggravating the possibility of becoming a burden to both the Asian giants. While the available literature on China and South Asia is mostly concentrated on Belt and Road (BRI) projects, 'debt trap' narratives, and geopolitical rivalry between India and China, this study would be a new attempt to understand how China's aim to get connected with South Asia via land is not free of impediments. Using the qualitative method, this study reviews the geopolitical challenges confronted by the trans-Himalayan railway in the context of territorial disputes between India and China in the Himalayan region and the U.S.-Indian strategic partnership to contain the rise of China and its ambitious connectivity projects.

The global economy has been severely paralysed, owing to the unprecedented crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, and different studies have indicated that the crisis is relatively more maleficent to the lower-income and middle-income economies. Methodologically, this study relied on the review and analysis of the grey literature, media reporting and data published by the Asian Development Bank, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), United Nations (UN), World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) among others. The article begins by describing the impact of the pandemic on low-income and middle-income countries, and it discusses how they have responded to the crisis. While discussions have surfaced regarding whether COVID-19 will reverse the process of globalization, what will be its impact on the low-income country like Nepal? The study also highlights that with foreign direct investments speculated to shrink and foreign assistance and remittance taking a hit, how is Nepal struggling to keep its economy afloat? Analysing the new budget that the government unveiled in 2020, this study concludes with a note that instead of effectively implementing the plans and policies directed by the budget, Nepal is unnecessarily engaged in political mess and is needlessly being dragged into the geopolitical complications.

Decolonisation and the fall of empires has led to the formation of small states in different regions of the world. Most studies of small states have however focused on their characteristic frailties, which have limited their influence in the global system. Nepal's smallness is similarly manifested, emphasizing its geographic location between two large and competing powers. But such arguments negate an underlying weakness that stems from Nepal's own resource incapability to oppose or directly compete with the bigger states in its immediate vicinity. This exploratory paper posits that, as a small state, Nepal would do well to reassess its own sources of national power and understand its limitations in order to recognize the roots of its small state syndrome. To fulfil such an objective, the paper maps out Nepal's national power capabilities, and assesses whether they would be of any help to metamorphose Nepal's small state syndrome into small power capabilities. This article suggests that, to unleash Nepal's small power capabilities beyond propaganda and populist discourses, the Himalayan country needs to perceive its neighbourhood not only as the cause of its smallness, but also as an opportunity to strengthen its national power through trade, tourism, connectivity, investment and diplomacy. ; peer-reviewed

The significance of maritime interactions has impacted coastal and landlocked countries. Nepal's response to the US-led Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS) signifies the same. For Nepal, crossing seas was culturally associated with sin as an objective to fulfill the isolationist policy adopted until the political change of 1950. As such, Nepal's interaction with the sea was not so friendly in the past. However, these historical shreds of evidence cannot suffice as the reason behind her denial of joining the IPS. Most of the available literature divulges the sensitive geographical position of Nepal in the context of the rise of China and the projection of a 'new Cold War' for its reluctance to join the Indo-Pacific strategy. However, they fail to probe into the domestic intricacies contributing to the hesitation. In this context, this paper primarily tries to dwell upon the actors and factors that have influenced Nepal's dubiety in joining the Indo-Pacific Strategy. Thus, this paper aims to fulfill two objectives. First, to analyze the role of geographical sensitivity, and second, to scrutinize the domestic interplay of things. As exploratory qualitative research, this study reviews the official documents, agreements, statements, speeches, and reports from think tanks and newspapers to hypothesize that besides external factors there are integral internal elements that have played a part in Nepal's denial to join the strategic partnership.