China-Nepal ties: Strong friendship, zero tariffs, shared future

As 2024 draws to a close, a number of high-level Nepalese officials are visiting China to explore new prospects for the development of bilateral relations. 

Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is scheduled to visit China starting Monday, while Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba is already in southwest China's Sichuan Province for the 5th China-Central Asia Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

According to Nepalese media reports, Oli's delegation comprises about 48 private sector representatives, a sign that the two countries may look to further expand trade.

China has always placed Nepal at an important position in its neighborhood diplomacy, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during his meeting with Oli in September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York. In 2019, The two countries upgraded their relations to a strategic partnership of cooperation featuring ever-lasting friendship for development and prosperity, and cooperation between the two sides have taken a step further. 

China decided to grant zero-tariff treatment to 100 percent of tariff items from all the least developed countries having diplomatic relations with China, Wang said in September. This will facilitate more Nepalese specialty products to enter China, he added. 

Garments, footwear, electronic items, smartphones and electric vehicles are among goods imported from China through Rasuwagadhi and Tatopani border crossings ahead of Dashain and Tihar, two major festivals in Nepal which fall in mid-October and November.

"We're seeing good growth in trade through Rasuwagadhi border point in the last two months," Rabindra Prasad Pyakurel, information officer at Rasuwa Customs Office, told Xinhua in September. 

There's also strong growing momentum for trade coming through the two sides' border routes as a 70-percent rise was seen during the first two months of Nepal's current 2024-25 fiscal year starting in mid-July.

The economic partnership between the two sides is underpinned by a strong people-to-people relationship that dates back ages. 

Nepal and China established diplomatic relations on August 1, 1955, although people-to-people relations date back to thousands of years. Both the societies have glorious history of ancient civilizations and inherit virtues of life such as compassion, honesty, nonviolence, sacrifice and harmony preached by Shakyamuni Buddha and Confucius.

Just days ago, 220 Nepali students were granted the Chinese ambassador scholarship for 2024. The students are from over 60 primary and secondary schools and some public schools which offer Chinese-language courses.

Official data shows that a total of 985 volunteer teachers have been sent to Nepal to teach more than 300,000 college, middle and primary school students as well as adults in nearly two decades, representing the "best calling card" in China-Nepal educational exchanges and cooperation.

Organizations at the grassroots in the two countries hold events that help people better understand each other's culture, such as the Nepal-China friendship dragon boat race festival in celebration of China's traditional Dragon Boat Festival.

The events not only boost cultural exchanges and tourism cooperation between the two countries, but also contribute to the building of a closer China-Nepal community of common destiny, and "push our cross-Himalayan friendship to a new height," said Wang Xin, counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Nepal.