China-Nepal railway back on track
China has re-started surveying the proposed trajectory of its part of the China-Nepal Railway. The ambitious and long-delayed railway project was discussed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Nepal in October 2019 (see SRH 161019) but Covid-19 caused another pause [China proceeds ahead with study of Kathmandu-Kerung railway].
The China-Nepal Railway is part of a much larger bilateral plan, the grandly named Trans-Himalayan Multi-dimensional Connectivity Network. This plan includes new roads from China to Nepal, improvements of existing roads in Nepal, and new trade hubs at the China-Nepal border.
The China-Nepal Railway is an extension of the Lhasa- Shigatse Railway, which in turn is an extension of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. On the Chinese side, the line will run westwards from Shigatse to Saga County, then southwards to Gyirong Town and then further south to the border, where it will run into Nepal at Rasuwa Ghadhi.
On the Nepali side, the line will run south from the border to the capital Kathmandu. From there, the line will be extended northwest to the garrison town of Baireni, then further northwest to the strategic hub of Pokhara, and then down south to Lumbini at the Nepal-India border.
China says it will complete its part of the line in 2025. To demonstrate the feasibility of the project, China started a regular freight train service carrying Nepal-bound goods from Xi’an in central China to Shigatse. The first train departed on May 22 and took ten days to arrive. From Shigatse, the freight went on to Nepal by road.
This rail-road connection is legally based on the 2016 Nepal-China Agreement on Transit and Transportation, which came into force in February. The agreement gives landlocked Nepal access to several Chinese seaports and land ports. Countries hope that the China-Nepal Railway, once completed, will further expand trade and connections.
India, on the other hand, is unhappy with the railway project, especially with the planned extension to its border. And India has lots more to worry about, as China and Nepal are growing ever closer.
Recently, the two countries announced an agreement to re-calculate the height of Mount Everest. The agreement includes a clause about China and Nepal jointly surveying, mapping, and sharing geographic information. India, afraid of a Chinese attack through Nepal, is very much against every form of Chinese surveying in Nepal. [China’s draft pact for Everest height announcement with Nepal raises eyebrows in India].
Also, recent reports in Indian media say that China is deploying troops and missiles around Lake Manasarovar in Tibet, to the northwest of Nepal, close to a border area that is disputed between Nepal and India. And finally, the Nepali government is said to be ignoring Chinese border incursions from Tibet into the country’s northern Dolakha District. Nepal has denied the reports.
Tycho de Feijter
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