The recent political upheaval in Kathmandu has changed for the worse for China as its hope for a prolonged time of influence was dashed by the resurgence of the pre-election five-party coalition led by the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Center and the Nepali Congress (NC), reported The Diplomat.
Since the formation of a new government in November, Nepal has seen a rise in Chinese political involvement. The post-election coalition saw the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) and Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Center, led by KP Sharma Oli and Puspa Kamal Dahal respectively, join together to establish the government with Dahal as prime minister. China appeared confident in reclaiming the political space it had in Nepal under Oli’s control of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP), which was created by the merger of the CPN-UML and the Maoists and ruled until 2021.
Following in the footsteps of former Ambassador Hou Yanqi, the new Chinese envoy Chen Song has been actively engaging with Nepal’s political leaders since his arrival in January of this year, read a report published in The Diplomat.