Nepal's strategic strength rendered into vulnerability

Yuba Nath Lamsal
Nepal is in history's worst political crisis. Taking advantage of the political deadlock, some external forces are directly and openly interfering in Nepal's internal affairs and dictating their terms on our political parties. The external interference in Nepal's internal affairs is more naked and blatant than ever before. The lack of decision-making capability of power-monger parties and politicians has paved the way for external meddling in Nepal. While the external forces are active in Nepal to control in its domestic politics and other affairs, the political parties and politicians are preoccupied in power struggle grossly compromising the national interest, national sovereignty and independence.
The tendency of the parties to seek support from the external forces to go to power has further aggravated the problem. Although the western countries including the United States are also interested in Nepal's domestic politics and they want the Nepali politics to move ahead in the way they wish, their activities are more sophisticated. However, the southern neighbour—India—has come more nakedly to interfere Nepal's domestic politics openly breaching basic diplomatic norms and values.
While the present political deadlock is the product of the game plan of the external forces, the prolonged political crisis has created a fertile ground for increased foreign meddling. The external forces have expressed their grave concerns over Nepal each and every turn of political event which in itself is interference in Nepal's domestic affairs. But the concern of the foreigners is more serious this time as they forces are playing their game plan in Nepal and accordingly trying to manipulate Nepal's internal politics. There are two types of countries that have expressed concern over Nepal's situation. Some countries are definitely concerned at Nepal peace, stability, democracy and national independence. But there are some countries that are concerned more in their own interest for which they want to manipulate Nepal's affairs.
It was not so until the Cold War was in existence, which had been marked by ugly superpower rivalry. The two superpowers namely the United States of America and the Soviet Union had their own priority zones like East Asia and the Middle East in Asia. After the end of the Cold War, the world became unipolar with a lone superpower—the United States of America. The international balance of power drastically changed and the center of power shifted to Asia with the rise of China. India, too, is rising economically, which may be reflected in its military position. China and India are both competing and cooperating on many fronts. But rivalry is more intense than the cooperation between China and India. Similarly, the rise of China both economically and militarily accompanied by its assertiveness in the global affairs has been taken by the United States as a threat to its global dominant position.
Nepal's location is strategically vital in the present global geo-political and geo-strategic scenario in general and regional power balance in particular. China is already a center of global power and India, too, is rising fast. The world is watching China and India closely. The developments and decisions in Beijing and New Delhi would certainly have greater impact on global affairs. China's rise has concerned the western world especially the United States of America more than any other countries in the world. The United States has adopted the policy of weakening and containing China so that the American dominant position in the global arena would continue to remain unchallenged. As a regional competitor, India, too, has joined the American bandwagon of containing China. The strategic partnership between Washington and New Delhi is its glaring example.
Nepal is a country located between China and India, which is strategically very important in the present global scenario. The global as well as the regional powers are, henceforth, playing more actively in Nepal to have their stronger presence so that they can play up in the neighbouring countries especially in Tibet of China. Until the Cold War was in place, Nepal had not been taken so prominently by the global powers as they have done in the present context. The present protracted political crisis in Nepal has given more leeway for the external forces to be more active. The activities of external players are becoming more visible now than ever before. America's interest in Nepal could be to use the Himalayan republic as a base to weaken China and also to spy against India. Moreover, the Unites States wants Nepal a strong, stable and democratic country. Being the lone superpower, the United States obviously wants its strong presence in Nepal, too. However, the small South Asian countries are skeptical of the United States' new strategic move to look at South Asia through Indian eyes. South Asian countries are already victim of the India's hegemonic policy and Washington's tilt to India has further emboldened New Delhi, which would create a sense of fear and terror in South Asia. Nepal has felt more vulnerable due to US-India alliance as it would augment Indian interference in Nepal. The United States and India have common policy on China as both Washington and New Delhi want to contain and encircle China, for which Nepal is being used as one of the key destinations.
Nepal has, thus, been a playground of international powers. As other global and regional powers are playing against China through Nepal, China, too, may not always remain silent forever. So far, Chinese policy in Nepal is selfless and Beijing wants stability, prosperity and peace in Nepal. However, Beijing is also watching the developments in Nepal closely and it is helping Nepal as a genuine friend and neighbour. At the same time, China is seriously and cautiously watching activities being carried out in Nepal by foreign powers especially India and the United States. If China comes up vigorously to counter US-India design in Nepal, the situation could be dangerous and precarious. Can we imagine the situation in such an eventuality? Can Nepal afford to have such a situation?
Our leaders have not visualized this scenario. They have given free hand to external forces to meddle in Nepal's internal politics, which has created the present crisis in Nepal. If the external interference grows further, Nepal may turn into battle ground of international and regional powers. The parties and politicians need to properly and objectively comprehend this scenario and act accordingly to check foreign meddling and interference that is in its height at present. Unfortunately, the parties themselves are encouraging and inviting external interference and meddling in Nepal's political affairs for their partisan interests. The tendency of seeking New Delhi's support to go to power is on the rise which has also given rise to open interference of India. In the race of serving foreign powers and inviting their interference, the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML are in the forefront. These two parties are acting like agents of external forces and are advocating foreign interference. The regional Madhes-based parties are the creation of India to serve New Delhi's interest in Nepal and we cannot expect patriotic stance from them. In the present context, the UCPN-Maoist has condemned the foreign meddling in general and Indian interference in particular and has also vowed to fight against Indian expansionism. At present, the Maoists have exhibited patriotic stance. But it remains to be seen whether the Maoists' stance is genuinely guided by their patriotism or it is mere expediency to go to power. But the way India has directly and openly interfered in Nepal's politics to prevent the Maoists from going to power demonstrates the real contradiction between the Maoists and New Delhi.
The strategic location of Nepal is our national strength which can be properly utilized for the development of Nepal. Nepal's strategic value can be well validated by the rivalry of global and regional powers that are seeking their increased role in Nepal especially after the commencement of the peace process four years ago. The current political deadlock is the result of this rivalry emerged out of Nepal's increased strategic importance. However, the parties and politicians have failed to grasp this reality. Instead, the rulers in Nepal have turned our strategic strength into strategic vulnerability in exchange for power, position and perks. Nepal is not a buffer state between China and India. It is the bridge and link between the two rising economies and global powers—China and India. Given this strategic value, the United States, European powers and Russia are also interested to have their increased role in Nepal. Against this background, Nepal can extract maximum benefit for our national interest and development.

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