Nepal News & Discussion

[Guest]

<b>Chinese hand behind Gyanendra’s coup</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->4 February 2005: Behind King Gyanendra’s coup, the Chinese hand is becoming visible, and it ties to the king’s son, Paras’s two visits to Hong Kong since 24 December.

The Chinese were apparently putting pressure on Nepal to open trade and transit routes between Lhasa and Kathmandu, and to evict the followers of the Dalai Lama and shut down his missions.

In early January, after Paras’s first Hong Kong visit, Nepal ordered closure of the Tibetan cultural centre, and subsequently, King Gyanendra put pressure to arrest and deport the Dalai Lama’s followers to China.

Prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, since sacked, conveyed a cabinet meeting to discuss the deportations, but six prominent ministers protested, threatened to resign from the government and party, and launch public demonstrations.

So Deuba expressed his helplessness to Gyanendra, who was unhappy and complained to his aides about the “ineffectiveness” of the PM.

Also at China’s behest, <b>King Gyanendra put a proposal to hastily open the trade routes between Lhasa and Kathmandu, and rejected Deuba’s suggestion to consult India beforehand, </b>saying he was the head of state, but again, the Nepal cabinet opposed him.

Now, after assuming absolute powers through the coup, <b>the king said last night that the trade routes with China would be opened by May, and that Nepal would join the China, Tibet confederation of chambers of commerce.</b>

Officials said the <b>king had warned Deuba to reduce dependence on India, but the PM was not convinced.</b>

So far, China has not condemned the coup, but rather said it would extend all emergency assistance to Nepal. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->