T-shirt diplomacy
Buoyed by the royal treatment he received in New Delhi early this month, a triumphant-looking Pushpa Kamal Dahal immediately jetted off to Beijing. The prime minister-in-waiting was keen to show he had the blessings of Nepal’s giant neighbours.
However, the ‘co-pilot’ of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) government did not get the same importance from China as he received in India.
Despite not holding any executive or constitutional post, Dahal in Delhi was accorded the kind of lavish welcome heads of government get on official state visits: a meeting with Prime Minister Modi, other top leaders, and a banquet. The only thing missing was a guard of honour.
“Last time when I was in Delhi as PM, I just had a 20-minute talk with Indian PM Narendra Modi,” Dahal boasted last week after his India trip, “this time, not only did he spend one-and-half hour with me, but he also walked me to my car!”
No such fanfare in Beijing. Neither Chinese President Xi Jinping nor Premier Li Keqiang had time for Dahal. At his port of entry in Guangzhou, Dahal was welcomed by a Chinese deputy minister wearing a polo T-shirt.
In diplomatese, the Chinese message was: “You are India’s pick, not ours.”
A Kathmandu-based foreign affairs expert says Dahal’s lukewarm welcome in China clearly signaled what lay in store for him. “Delhi clearly projected Dahal as the PM-in-waiting, and the future party leader. But Beijing is not in favour of his plan to dethrone Prime Minister Oli halfway through his five-year term.”
For months, even as PM Oli came under blistering attack for failing to deliver good governance, Dahal rarely defended the government. He kept mum even when former comrade-at-arms Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa allowed police to botch an investigation into the Nirmala Panta rape-murder case and shoot protesters demanding justice. When Thapa later barred ex-child soldier Lenin Bista from traveling abroad, Dahal was conspicuously silent. In an interview, Dahal actually expressed his dissatisfaction at the government’s performance, suggesting that he might have to “step in”.
Dahal’s India visit appears to have been part of a plan to unseat PM Oli, and analysts say he has secured India’s backing. Suspicious, Oli also sent a salvo to India: instructing the Nepal Army to not participate in a joint military drill of BIMSTEC countries proposed by Modi. He also pushed through a transit deal with Beijing.
Beijing’s rebuff seems to have sucked the wind out of Dahal’s sails for the time being. Now, he is likely to try to allow domestic disenchantment with the government to grow to a tipping point.