Nepal will not join the first-ever military drill among the armies of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) to be hosted by India, the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported on Monday.
The seven-member BIMSTEC, which was set up in 1997, includes India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Thailand has also announced that it, like Nepal, will participate only as an observer.
The drill, being held in Pune in India, is seen by some observers as an “anti-Pakistan” exercise and also aimed at countering China’s growing influence in the region. The latter may be the main reason why Nepal and Thailand, which have close relations with China, are not participating.
According to Xinhua, Nepal’s decision “was made by the government amid growing criticism from multiple quarters over Nepal’s participation” without specifying what the critics had said.
But the Russian news agency Sputnik quoted Nepal’s former Maoist prime minister as saying: “Respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, and non-interference in internal affairs help buttress trust, which is absolutely essential for governing a friendly relationship. Let me tell you frankly [that] small neighbors have some sensitivities that need to be understood and respected.”
‘Political pressure’
Yesterday the Hindustan Times reported that Nepal’s communist prime minister Khadga Prasad Oli called on the Indian ambassador to Kathmandu last Friday to tell him that Nepal was unable to participate in the exercise due to “internal political pressure.”
Thailand, meanwhile, cited “prior commitments” as the reason for not taking an active part in the exercise.
The exercise, which started on Monday Sept 10, will run until Sept 16. It focuses on dealing with terrorism in semi-urban areas.
It’s better to trust China but then don’t expect our help when China will start colonising your land with their peaceful economic policy and in the name of loan. DontD believe me Sri Lanka a live example????
Muhammad Fayyaz peace loving China butchered its innocent citizens by tank at tiamenen square,not to mention ethnic cleansing of uhighurs.already Sri Lanka leased it’s port,pak soon to follow.get ready to endorse ur New daddy.
India wants to be a leader. It pressurised it’s neighbor to act everything in it’s way. Now a days they are middling political affiars of neighbor countries covertly in the name of it’s national security. They are lucky for the time being as us adopted anti Pakistan policy in the region. US believes that if India gets strong US interest will be served. US’s brain is completely washed by NRI think tanks.
SAARC is dead.Now its a club of Chinese debtors.let’s bury SAARC and move on
Billions of rupees have been spent in vain on the Name of SAARC by its member countries .But the so called SAARC club is lying in a death bed from last 33 years only because of India.Unfortunately now again Mr. Modi is trying to full his beloved neighbors by playing another drama just to fullfill his pity interests.I hope this blind neighbors will know the bitter truth about Modi game before it becomes too late
Nepal as a Chairman of both SAARC and BIMSTEC is looking for economic cooperation between the asian countries . The Forum must be use for Peace , Prosperity , Economic cooperation, trade and transit , connectivity etc not on showing power to some members enemies . Where in other hand india and indian PM Modi is very busy on his election campaign . Indian side is only focused on isolating Pakistan and pretending that India is not less then China .
Millions of worker form South asian countries having very bad working condition in Middle east and Malaysia . living standard is as bad as then the animal farms . However india has no sympathy for its migrants worker . If south asian countries try to resolve this issue it wont take much longer then a week to solve .