Amid his ongoing Nepal visit, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met former Prime Ministers KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal in Kathmandu in separate meetings on Sunday.
The meetings are notable given the volatile political situation in Nepal which recently saw the contentious Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) grant being ratified by the parliament, even as China raised public concerns.
The Chinese FM also met President Bidya Devi Bhandari today and exchanged views on further strengthening Nepal-China bilateral relations, the Nepali Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed in a tweet.
The meetings come on the last day of the Chinese FM's three-day visit to Nepal which began on Friday. The Chinese FM had met with Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba earlier on Saturday, where the two leaders witnessed the virtual completion ceremony of the Pokhara Regional International Airport which China handed over to Nepal.
On Saturday, a total of nine agreements were signed between Nepal and China after the delegation-level talks between Nepali Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka and his counterpart Wang Yi on Saturday in wide-ranging areas including economic and technical cooperation, protocols on bilateral trade and people exchanges, and on the ongoing Chinese projects in Nepal. However, none of the agreements related to the BRI.
The visit of Chinese FM Wang Yi to Nepal comes at a time when relations between the two countries are experiencing a downturn, due to growing suspicion about the Chinese investments in the country.
Wang's Nepal visit will also culminate the slew of trips that the Chinese Foreign Minister has made to the South Asian countries since he arrived in Pakistan on March 21 to attend the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) summit as a "special guest".
Wang held talks with Taliban representatives in Afghanistan on Thursday, followed by his arrival in New Delhi the same evening, where he held talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Friday before departing for Kathmandu on a three-day visit that concludes today.
( With inputs from ANI )
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