Kathmandu: Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi is making all possible efforts to prevent a split in the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP).
Yanqi continues to hold behind the door meetings with rival factions of NCP, one led by Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, and another by former Prime Minister Pushp Kamal Dahal Prachanda.
The controversial envoy, who is believed to be close to Nepal’s Chief of Army Staff General Purna Chandra Thapa, is seen as the architect of the ongoing trouble on the India-Nepal border.
Yanqi, working at the behest of foreign policy strategists in Beijing, is considered to be one of the most powerful foreign diplomats in Nepal.
At the moment, she is reportedly involved in hectic parleys with top NCP comrades to prevent the ruling party from an inevitable split as Prime Minister Oli seems reluctant to make truce with Prachanda.
A prominent Nepali English daily reported that Oli is keen to float a new party. One of Oli’s close aides has filed an application with the Election Commission to register a new party.
A split in NCP will dent the left unity in the Himalayan republic, a position not suited to Beijing’s game of plan.
Earlier, a standing committee meeting of the NCP had failed to sort out the difference between Oli and the rival faction led by Prachanda.
As the rivalry heats up for the PM’s chair, Beijing suspects that New Delhi is behind driving a wedge between the two rival factions of the NCP.
Therefore, Yanqi has been tasked to pacify the senior leadership in Nepal’s left party. For its own convenience and interest, China wants a strong, united NCP ruled government in Kathmandu.
Officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kathmandu have dubbed the ambassador’s recent moves as sheer violation of diplomatic norms. The standard protocol demands that there should be a representative of the foreign ministry present during such political meetings.
