(TibetanReview.net, May03’24) —The Chinese government of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), which constitutes roughly the western half of Tibet proper, is to fund a five-year initiative in Nepal’s northern border districts, offering different kinds of logistical and material support, mostly for social and economic development projects. The inhabitants of these districts are ethnically Tibetan or of Tibetan-origin, with most of them practicing Tibetan religion and culture.
The TAR government will provide 20 million yuan or around Nepali Rs 370 million each year under the initiative for the next five years, reported the kathmandupost.com May 3, citing officials familiar with the development.
In order to execute this initiative, the first preparatory meeting was held in Lhasa over Apr 23-24, co-chaired by Kamal Prasad Bhattarai, joint secretary of Nepal’s Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration of Nepal, and Baiman Yangzong, director general of the Foreign Affairs Office of the TAR government, the report said, citing a statement from Nepal’s Consulate General in Lhasa.
The report noted that during his Nepal visit in Nov 2023, Wang Junzheng, the Party Secretary of TAR, had informed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha that Lhasa would provide Nepal 20 million yuan for administrative reform and development needs in Nepal.
The assistance will be used to build schools and health posts, install solar electricity, and fund other small projects in the northern 15 districts of Nepal, a Nepali official who attended the meeting in Lhasa last week has said.
The districts have been named as Taplejung, Solukhumbu, Sankhuwasabha, Dolakha, Sindhupalchok, Rasuwa, Dhading, Gorkha, Manang, Mustang, Bajhang, Dolpa, Mugu, Humla and Darchula.
The two sides will meet twice in the first half of the year with focus on the projects’ arrangements and twice in the second half of the year for the implementation and review of the implemented projects, the report said.
The statement has further said the two sides discussed enhancing support for improving the livelihood of the people residing in the border districts through various projects.
Nepal’s Ministry of Local Development was stated to be currently compiling a list of projects needed in the 15 districts that share a border with Tibet.
The report noted that China has already been implementing small-scale aid projects in the northern border districts of Nepal, providing each district Nepali Rs 3 million for the development of village development committees (VDCs), then local administrative units, in the districts.
The report suggested that the initiative began in 2014 when China agreed to provide 10 million yuan (USD 1.63 million) annually from 2014 to 2018 through the TAR government in areas like health, education and road sectors to improve the livelihood of the residents in those districts.
Later in Apr 2019, during the state visit of the then Nepali president Bidya Devi Bhandari to China, the two countries signed the Northern Area Infrastructure Development and Livelihood Improvement Project (NAIDLIP), under which Beijing pledged to provide funds for implementing various development projects, which was estimated to be 20 million yuan, the report said.