China congratulates Nepal for successful elections

China today congratulated Nepal for holding "smooth and successful" elections, as the Communist Party of Nepal (UML) leader K P Sharma Oli, widely regarded as pro-Beijing, is expected to form the new government soon.
Nepal concluded three phase of provincial, local and parliamentary elections as part of its efforts to implement the new Constitution that was promulgated in September 2015.
Nepal's Left alliance -- that won the majority seats in parliamentary polls -- is preparing to form the new government which is tipped to be headed by Oli.
The new government, the first under the new constitution, is expected to be formed as the Election Commission of Nepal has submitted the list of elected members to President Bidya Devi Bhandari.

"China congratulates Nepal for smoothly and successfully holding elections," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a media briefing here, commenting for the first time on Nepal election results.
"We respect the choice made by the people of Nepal and we hope they could build on such cooperation and solidarity and get along with their work on forming government new government to ensure stability and economic development," he said.
Expectations are high in China from Oli, who signed the Transit Treaty with Beijing to end dependence on India for his landlocked country to reset Kathmandu-Beijing ties and over turned the outgoing government's decision to scrap the USD 2.5 billion deal with China's Gezhouba Group to build Budhi Gandaki Hydro Electric Project.

China has been investing heavily in Nepal, blunting India's influence in the Himalayan country.