China, once hailed by Nepal's King Gyanendra as his "all weather friend", deserted the monarch and his ousted royalist government, extending the hand of friendship to the new government to be formed by the opposition parties.Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao sent "warm congratulations and best wishes" to newly appointed prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala, expressing the hope that Nepal would make "new achievements in the cause of peace, harmony, stability and development" under Koirala's leadership.
"The two governments and peoples always understand each other, respect each other and support each other," Wen said, adding he would like to make joint efforts with Koirala to boost "the consistent development of Nepal-China neighbourly relations".
The volte face comes after Beijing supported King Gyanendra's coup last year and his 16-month absolute rule, extending diplomatic, military and economic cooperation to the royal regime.
At a time the international community, concerned at the king's crackdown on democracy, reduced economic aid and suspended military assistance, China increased its economic assistance from the earlier annual 80 million yuan to 100 million, stepped up the sale of arms and ammunition to the Royal Nepalese Army and kept up diplomatic ties.
Just a month after the royal coup, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing arrived in Kathmandu on a two-day visit, boosting the morale of the royal regime that was beginning to find itself isolated in the international community.
Last month Chinese state councillor Tang Jiaxuan visited Kathmandu and had the honour of King Gyanendra rushing from Pokhara city to the capital to meet him at a time the monarch was refusing audience to many foreign dignitaries.
However, this month, when a peaceful mass uprising began against the king's direct rule, China became increasingly jittery.
The king's absolute rule came to an end near midnight Monday, when he was forced to give in to the people's demand and reinstate parliament that he had dissolved in 2002.
Within hours of the capitulation, Beijing rushed a delegation to Kathmandu to appease the opposition parties.
Headed by Luo Zhahui, deputy director of Asian affairs at the foreign ministry, the team met Koirala and other senior political leaders to gloss over Beijing's role during the royal regime.
Before leaving for Beijing Saturday, Luo said Beijing looks forward to "cooperating closely with the new government of Nepal to boost the friendly bilateral relations".
However, more than peace and prosperity in Nepal, China's real concern is whether the new democratic government will continue to support the Chinese stranglehold on Tibetans.
"China highly appreciates the strong support given by Nepal over the years on the issues of Taiwan and Tibet and other major issues related to China's sovereign rights and interests," Luo said.
Under King Gyanendra's commands, Nepal closed down the Tibetan Welfare Centre for Tibetan refugees in Kathmandu, stopped the celebration of exiled Tibetan leader Dalai Lama's birthday in Nepal, and from this year stopped issuing exit permits to Tibetans wanting to leave Tibet via Nepal.
While the royalist government did not allow Tibetans to register marriages or births in Nepal or own property or businesses, at the same time it also did not allow them to proceed to the US, where Washington is offering them sanctuary. It has, in violation of an earlier agreement, been deporting fleeing Tibetan refugees back to China.
(IANS)
