News, Views From Nepal

In the strategic chessboard of international power politics, China occupies a lion’s share, due mainly to its long civilization and economic power accompanied by growing international clout. When the sleeping dragon, the inference most Western media like to make when it comes to calling China, wags its tail or wakes up, the world trembles, sometimes on a scale of tectonic magnitude. China’s present miraculous peaceful rise and its further march to prosperity to become the world’s dominant power are a case in point. The world is reacting in different tones and tenors to China’s rise and its future vision of national development and international cooperation. While much of its neighbourhood and the developing world are enthusiastic and optimistic about China’s peaceful rise, the western world appears to be highly sceptical. Chinese Dream This is exactly what has happened after Xi Jinping, on assuming China’s leadership, put forth the idea of the Chinese Dream - a ...

Yuba Nath Lamsal December 26 marks the 120th birth anniversary of Mao Zedong— the greatest political personality of China. On this occasion, Mao is remembered all over the world for his role and leadership to liberate China and also the ideological contribution he made in the international revolutionary communist movement. Mao is, thus, revered worldwide as a legendary icon of revolutionary people. World opinion is sharply divided over Mao’s role, deeds and ideological works. While majority of the people in the world—revolutionary, poor and proletariat—revere him as a source of inspiration,   handful of capitalists, reactionary and rightist often try to vilify him as ‘ world’s one of the worst dictators’ and propagate hate message against him. Mao is by far the most respected leader in China even today.   He led the Chinese Revolution and established modern People’s Republic of China in 1949 through a protracted people’s war under the banner of Communist Party of...

Yuba Nath Lamsal It is still not clear how should be the recently held election be called? Is this the second election of the Constituent Assembly or the election for the second Constituent Assembly? This issue has not drawn attention of our politicians and political pundits. But it needs thorough debate and deliberations. Perhaps, political pundits and even parties are expected to clarify this to the people in appropriate time. In this connection, Jhala Nath Khanal, chairman of the CPN-UML, is the first and only personality who has raised this issue in public. In a television interview more than a week ago, Khanal described the November 19 election as the second election to the Constituent Assembly. According to him, there cannot be two Constituent Assemblies and thus it would be unfair to call it as the election to the second Constituent Assembly. However, other politicians and political scientists as well as political analysts are tight-lipped on this issue. Whatever the de...

Yuba Nath Lamsal The 17th summit meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) recently concluded in Addu Atoll of the Maldives, which appears to be a turning point in its history. Coming to the 17th Summit, the SAARC has traversed a long and tumultuous journey and has finally proved its worth. Some new initiatives now are afoot to turn the SAARC from a regional gossiping club of South Asian leaders into a vibrant and resourceful regional body. Much was discussed among the leaders of the South Asia and observer countries especially on the sidelines of the formal meetings. Talks were held and ideas were exchanged on various issues including enlargement of the SAARC. Currently, there are eight members and nine observers. The eight members include Nepal, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Afghanistan. The observer countries are China, Mauritius, Japan, South Korea, Australia, United States of America, I...

Yuba Nath Lamsal Soon after Xi Jinping assumed the leadership of China, he, as all his predecessors did, looked something new and substantive to offer to the Chinese people and the world. XI came with a new vision of Chinese Dream in November 2012 seeking to transform China into a peaceful, strong and stable global power putting its people in the focal point of development. The Chinese Dream is the vision Xi Jinping has brought about purportedly to raise the standard of the people at a moderate level and giving further impetus to China’s peaceful rise. History is witness that every Chinese leader that comes to the helm of affairs has left his distinct mark in China. Mao Zedong is by far the most revered leader who established the modern People’s Republic of China in 1949 through a protracted armed revolution under the banner of the communist party. Deng Xiaoping, who returned to limelight and rose to power in mid 1970s, changed the entire course of China through his widely accla...

Yuba Nath Lamsal Militarization has been a part of strategic culture in South Asia and war its end result. All South Asian states were created by the use of brutal force. South Asian countries fought both internal and external wars on various occasions. Before British arrived in South Asia and controlled most part of the region, there were numerous states and principalities that fought one another to have their dominant position. Lured by abundance of natural resources and material wealth, outsiders invaded South Asia. Greeks, Alexander the Great, Mugals and British colonial rulers were some of external invaders that attacked and controlled South Asia to name a few. The war was a part of South Asian culture as military power was the critical component of the rulers. However, it was only the northern empire or China that never exhibited its territorial appetite in South Asia. It is not only external forces and powers with which South Asian countries had to fight o...

Yuba Nath Lamsal The international balance of power has changed and is changing constantly. The international of the World War II no longer existed soon after the war was over. It gave rise to Cold War dominated by two rival superpowers. The bi-polar world also came to an end with the collapse of Soviet Union that marked formal end of the Cold War. In the post Cold War era, the United States of America is the only superpower making the world as a unipolar one. This uni-polar world, too, is not going to remain for a long time. The new world order has already started taking its shape. There had been a unique equation of power during the Cold War era, which might not have been natural. Soon after the World War II, ideology was the sole basis of international relations and alliance among states. There was a capitalist bloc under the leadership of the United States and the Soviet Union was the leader of world's socialist camp. Some of the countries of the Third World that...