Nepal's uneasy balancing act

Book review of All Roads Lead North: Nepal's Turn to China

In his book All Roads Lead North, Amish Raj Mulmi presents a finely grained narrative of China’s increasingly insistent imprint on Nepal’s political and economic landscape, placing it within a broader historical and cultural context. He demonstrates that Nepal has an agency independent of its giant neighbour to the south and a distinctive identity that has crystallised over a long period of history. While there are deep and long-standing connections with India, Nepal’s history at the cross-roads of trans-Himalayan trade, its unique and syncretic culture, blending Hindu, Buddhist and Tantric impulses, bestows on the country and its people a remarkably rich and varied cultural and aesthetic sensibility. Indians see and celebrate the obvious affinities but miss the elements unique to Nepal. Nepal is not just a sub-set of an India-dominated sub-continent, nor should it merely see its fate determined by a bossy India to the south or an expanding behemoth to the north.

This is a central message that I took away from the book and sympathise with it.  But if Indians have been myopic in their treatment of Nepal, the country's political leadership has been mostly transactional in its dealing both with India and China. The dynamics of domestic politics spill-over into Nepal’s external relations and its diminishing state capacity complicate negotiating advantageous terms for the country and makes it vulnerable to the overbearing assertions of interests by its larger neighbours. Waving the China flag in India’s face may have been a useful instrument in resisting India’s perceived arrogance but if that only creates space for a China that may be even less accommodating of Nepal’s interests, then the future does not look too bright.

Nepal’s prosperity through most of its history depended upon permeable borderlands both to the north and south allowing easy passage of both people and material. While Tibet may have been a forbidden land for the rest of the world, Nepali traders were key intermediaries in the Tibet trade. Mr Mulmi has a fascinating account of the role played by Newari traders of the Kathmandu Valley in managing this trade. A Newar community was resident in Lhasa right up to the 1950s. Members of this community rubbed shoulders with caravan merchants from Kashmir. This came to a virtual end after Tibet's incorporation into China. The frontiers are being opened again for trade but strictly on Chinese terms. Border communities in Nepal are benefiting from this revived cross-border trade but have no say in how it is conducted. Their entry into Tibet is strictly regulated and subject to being interrupted without warning. On the other hand, Chinese traders seem to have privileged access to Nepal. The Nepal government is either unwilling or unable to negotiate more equitable terms.

All Roads Lead North: Nepal’s Turn to China
Author: Amish Raj Mulmi
Publisher: Context
Pages: 320; Price: Rs 799

The India-Nepal border is still relatively open and governed by the Trade and Transit treaty but Nepali residents across the border report increasing scrutiny and restrictions from the SSB deployed at the border. It may be just a question of time before this, too, becomes a “hard” border as security concerns over growing Chinese presence in Nepal multiply.  Mr Mulmi points to the pervasive Nepali sentiment of reducing the country’s economic dependence on India by turning to China. However, it should not end up in neither having control over its southern nor its northern border, vulnerable to interruptions by both powers. As is evident from the book, China is determined to exercise complete control over the border crossings ceding virtually no role to Nepali counterparts. This is a heavy price to pay in trying to keep the Indians at bay.

All Roads Lead North testifies to the importance of the Tibet issue in China’s policy towards Nepal, and this has been a consistent feature right since Chinese occupation of Tibet. With its greater power and influence, China has compelled Nepal to limit the activities of the Tibetan community in Nepal, prevent the entry of Tibetan refugees into the country and now to repatriate them on Chinese demand. The Chinese have insisted and Nepal has complied with Chinese surveillance on localities where Tibetans are resident. Those who do manage to reach Nepal are no longer allowed to travel to India on informal certificates issued by the local UNHCR office. Mr Mulmi has narrated the case of a Tibetan-American who was denied entry into Nepal and deported because his name was identical to someone included in a blacklist provided by the Chinese security authorities.

Mr Mulmi’s book should be read widely in India because it provides a well-researched account of how the Chinese footprint has been expanding in Nepal and is likely to become even more entrenched as its power and influence continue to grow. Indian policymakers are concerned about the spread of Chinese influence in the sub-continent but perhaps the nature and extent of the China challenge, as described in the book, is not fully appreciated. A careful reassessment is overdue.

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The reviewer is a former Foreign Secretary and was India's ambassador to Nepal (2002-04). He is a senior fellow, CPR