India may resist China-Nepal cross-border railways construction project: Analysts

BEIJING, June 22 (APP):Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of International Relations said on Friday India may resist the joint construction by China and Nepal of a cross-border railway connecting the Tibet Autonomous Region with Kathmandu as the country believes Nepal is heavily dependent on it.
China has long proposed that India join in cooperating with China and Nepal and build a
trilateral economic corridor, but India sees it as a threat and has been distancing itself, Hu told Global Times here.
China and Nepal agreed to hasten the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation under the Belt and Road initiative to enhance connectivity, covering vital components as ports, roads, railways, aviation and communications within the overarching framework of the trans-Himalayan Multi-Dimensional Connectivity Network.
A new line will connect the Gyirong trading port in Xigaze, Tibet with Kathmandu, Vice-Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said at a briefing after the two leaders met.
Such a project is of great significance to Tibet’s development and stability,” Hu said.
Zhao Gancheng, director of the Shanghai Institute for International Studies’ Center for
Asia-Pacific Studies, also said Nepal attaches great importance to Tibet because this region has frequent trade and energy cooperation with Nepal.
For Chinese companies doing business with Nepal, trains are the most convenient means of transportation for sending goods from cities in Tibet to Kathmandu. The railway’s extension from
Xigaze to Gyirong is highly anticipated.
The Guangdong-Tibet-Central South Asia freight train was launched with linking China and Nepal
in mind, a Lhasa official involved in the project, who preferred not to be named, told the China media.
Hindustan Times, one of the leading Indian newspapers warned its country in December 2017 that “the possibility of Kathmandu moving closer to Beijing will have negative consequences for India, which should be anticipated and promptly dealt with.”
The report also noted that Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli visited China during his brief tenure as prime minister in 2016, when he widened China-Nepal ties by signing a transit trade treaty with China
and sought the expansion of road links through Tibet in addition to the extension of China’s railway network to Nepal through the Himalayas.
Experts said the ball is in India’s court when it comes to building such a corridor. “India should
put aside its narrow mindset and participate in border cooperation,” Hu said.