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Nepal is falling into the Chinese debt trap through vaccine diplomacy amid COVID-19 as Beijing is exploiting Kathmandu's helplessness to have control over its natural resources and even on its foreign policy.
Nepal joined a long list of countries that have been promised the Chinese "Magic Bullet" in the fight against COVID-19 after the world's power nation started developing the vaccines. With vaccines coming from countries like India, the USA, Japan and the UK, China has surpassed them with large differences providing as many as six million doses of the vaccine, Nepal's Pardafas News reported. With vaccine diplomacy, China is trying to gain a foothold in the political and economic spheres in Nepal and also nudging its way into Nepal by claiming Nepalese territory as Chinese on one hand and is trying to cower down the protests by dangling the carrot of the vaccine, Pardafas News reported. Nepal, a landlocked country dependent on tourism has seen a fall in its economy owing to the COVID-19 related restrictions and travel bans. The government, which saw inoculation as an elixir of all the miseries, started an inoculation drive to bring the economy back on track. According to Pardafas News, China's vaccine diplomacy has also kicked in at a time when there are widespread protests in Nepal over the interventionist Chinese policies. Experts believe that these actions rose after China started unnecessary interference on our internal politics, economy and culture. In a meantime, after Nepal signed a framework agreement on its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with Nepal in 2017 Chinese investment has skyrocketed. It has promised to support nine large projects in Nepal. However, none of the projects has taken off yet. According to Pardafas News, many opine that delays and cost overruns in the China-backed projects due to various reasons will make Nepal fall in its debt trap. This will help China to realize its strategic goal and exploit Nepal's helplessness to have control over its natural resources and even on its foreign policy. Moreover, the Chinese side has been turning deaf ears to various protests being organized on a regular basis outside the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu. Among them, most of them are worried about China for not allowing the students to roll back in the colleges after the COVID-19. Some others are worried about their imported goods being stuck in the border while some of them are angered by land encroachment in the country. Many also see these actions rose after China started unnecessary interference on our internal politics, economy and culture, the report added. Dozens of civil society members joined the protests fearing a 'conspiracy' that they have tried to influence Nepal's politics and culture through interference in all sectors. (ANI)
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