As Nepal faces political turmoil, China and India are scrambling

Himalayan nation’s ruling communist alliance has split and early elections have been called for April and May

The country has become a battleground for strategic rivalry between its neighbours

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Protesters affiliated with a faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party burn an effigy of Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli in Kathmandu on Thursday in protest over the dissolution of parliament. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:00pm, 10 Jan 2021Updated: 8:55pm, 10 Jan 2021

When a coalition of two communist parties swept to power in Nepal three years ago, it was seen as a geopolitical win for Beijing over New Delhi in their competition for regional influence in South Asia.

But Beijing may be about to lose that advantage after the ruling Nepal Communist Party – which won the 2017 election with an anti-India nationalist campaign – split in a political crisis that erupted last month. Nepal is now counting down to early elections in April and May, more than a year ahead of the expected vote.

Political turmoil in South Asia has always been a challenge for Beijing’s push to expand its influence in the region, and landlocked Nepal, wedged between China and India, is no exception. The election in late 2017 was the first held under Nepal’s new constitution adopted in 2015 after years of bloody civil war and a rocky transition to becoming a federal democratic state that has seen a series of short-lived governments.

China’s investment in Nepal is now five times that from India. Photo: AP

Beijing’s response to the latest political crisis was swift. Days after Nepalese Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli abruptly called for parliament to be dissolved on December 20, sparking nationwide protests and political chaos, China sent a delegation to Kathmandu.

Oli decided he could no longer work with rival factions within the ruling NCP, a coalition of Marxist-Leninist and Maoist parties. His opponents accused him of sidelining the party and launched a legal challenge against the early elections, to be heard in January.