nepal_top_newspaper
  • nepal_top_newsportal
  • nepal_top_newsportal
  • nepal_top_newsportal
  • nepal_top_newsportal
nepal_top_newsportal
annapurna post
×
logo
  • Home
  • Politics
  • Society
  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Features
  • Interview
  • Review
  • Auto & Tech
  • APEX Series
  • IT'S TIME TO...
  • Event
  • Long Read
  • Online Exclusive
  • Current Affairs
  • Sneak Peek
  • Illustration
  • Video
  • Series
  • Archive
  • About Us
  • Home
  • Politics
  • Society
  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Features
  • Series
  • Video
  • Archive
  • About Us
nepal_top_newsportal

Who gets the MCC compact?

It is dangerous to politicize a foreign policy issue—and one related to the world’s sole superpower at that—for partisan gains, and mislead the public

Biswas Baral
Biswas Baral published on 2020-02-07 14:02:00
  • change font
  • change font
  • change font

Little knowledge is dangerous. Perhaps this adage is no truer than in the case of the MCC compact. Everyone is talking about it. Asks a taxi-driver in Kathmandu: “Is it true that America will launch missiles against China from Nepal after its passage of the MCC?” A coffee-shop owner in Teenkune questions as curiously: “Will Nepal lose its inde­pendence if it signs the MCC?” A Nepali TV channel conducts an MCC debate with rockets and missiles shown flying in the background. How did we come to this?The unsettled debate over whether the MCC compact is a part of the ‘military’ Indo-Pacific Strategy—an imperial American construct targeted against China, in the eyes of many ruling party leaders—is one contributing factor. Thanks to the paranoia this debate has fanned, speculations about American boots marching on Nepali soil naturally follow. But whether or not the compact is related to the IPS, the way the issue has been handled by the ruling party is immature. Yet perhaps it was also inevitable that such an ‘imperial agenda’ would be used to fight proxy wars inside a communist party.

The much ado about the compact could have been avoided had our government been honest. With the American offi­cials themselves admitting the MCC is part of the IPS, why does the NCP government have to lie to its own people? Why not rather have the guts to argue that it really does not matter whether the MCC is a part of the IPS because it is in our national interest? After all, even if we are to go by the government’s own diversification policy, greater American engagement in Nepal will help balance India and China—always dangerous for a small landlocked country to exclu­sively rely on its giant neighbors.

The Americans have themselves contributed to the sus­picions by so strongly lobbying in the compact’s favor and giving muddled answers over its IPS link. Having made their case, why not let the sovereign government apparatus of Nepal settle it? And what is the harm in unequivocally saying that, yes, the compact is a part of the IPS, which, in fact, is the overarching American foreign policy formulation for the Indo-Pacific region?

Even some NCP leaders who were initially skeptical of the compact have come around to seeing its benefits, and it is likely to be eventually passed. But the unfolding MCC fiasco also offers an important lesson. It is dangerous to politicize a foreign policy issue—and one related to the world’s sole superpower at that—for partisan gains, and mislead the public.

After listening to those in the know, it seems the MCC agreement was signed in keeping with Nepali laws. There maybe grander ‘American designs’ behind it. But then the same speculation could be made of China’s BRI or India’s ‘Neighborhood First’. Again, I am not asking for blind accep­tance of the compact, as I am also only a learner on the subject. If you too are interested in it, don’t be satisfied by superficial answers—dig a little deep.

Trending

  • Should Nepal’s elderly take the Covid-19 vaccine? Absolutely, say experts
    2021-02-26
    1
  • Obstacles, confusion galore over the election of new Nepali PM
    2021-02-25
    2
  • Province 1 traffic police enforce ‘no-horn’ rule with love
    2021-02-25
    3
  • Editorial: Supreme verdict
    2021-02-24
    4
  • Our roads to disaster
    2021-02-24
    5
  • Behind Her Eyes: Eyes, lies and all that mystery
    2021-02-23
    6
  • Amnesty: Morality debate: A book review
    2021-02-22
    7
  • Photo feature: No mask, no fear
    2021-02-21
    8

nepal_top_newspaper

Publisher: Captain Rameshwar Thapa

Editor: Biswas Baral

Registration Number: 1294/075-76

Corporate Tower, Tinkune, Kathmandu

Post Box - 2499

Phone - 4482305/ 4482207/ 4469758

Email -info@amn.media,
theannapurnaexpress@gmail.com

Categories

  • Politics
  • Society
  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Features
  • Interview
  • Review
  • VIDEO
  • ARCHIVE
  • SERIES

Get Latest News!

We will send you breaking news right to your inbox

  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Advertise
  • About Us
Powered By yarsha
© 2021 Annapurna Media Network. All rights reserved.