Will Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal once again raise the issue of trilateral cooperation when he meets Indian and Chinese leaders? A three-way partnership between Nepal, India, and China is a concept that Dahal proposed after his return from China in 2012. Its objective was to promote infrastructure development in Nepal by preventing unhealthy competition between India and China.

During his second prime ministerial stint in 2016, Dahal again proposed such cooperation in his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS outreach summit in Goa, India.

He even tried to project the meeting as a trilateral meeting. The only problem was, India was not so keen on the idea. It still is not.

The concept of a tripartite partnership is worth pursuing. Dahal’s trilateral cooperation shares the elements of the proposed “China-India Plus” strategy for South Asia.

An article published in The Global Times on Wednesday indicates that China is willing to enter a three-way partnership for regional growth.

“There is a great room for trilateral cooperation among the three countries,” says the article by Times staff writer Hu Weijia. The piece also highlights India’s growing investment interest in cross-border roads, railway and pipeline projects in Nepal.

China-India Plus cooperation is a concept first brought up during a meeting between Xi and Modi in Wuhan in April 2018. The meeting had taken place against the backdrop of a 73-day-long standoff between China and India in Doklam, an area at the tri-junction between Bhutan, India and China.

China-India Plus cooperation was once again discussed when Xi and Modi met in 2019. Besides,

Chinese officials have also been raising the issue with the Indian and Nepali sides in almost all their meetings.  In March this year, Chinese Foreign Minister Yi Wang proposed a cooperation mechanism with senior Indian officials during his India trip.

“We are willing to explore ‘China-India Plus’ cooperation in South Asia, build a positive interaction model, and achieve a higher level and a wider range of mutual benefit and win-win results,” Yi was reported as saying by Hindustan Times.  According to the paper, Yi told Indian officials that China does not seek a “unipolar Asia” and respects India’s traditional role in the region.

Pramod Jaiswal, research director at Nepal Institute for International Cooperation and Engagement, says trilateral cooperation between Nepal, India, and China is in the interest of all three countries.

“Nepal will be the largest beneficiary, as it will be connected with two of the largest economies in the world.”

But Jaiswal doubts such cooperation will take place at a time when India and China relations are strained. “He [Dahal] will have to wait for the relations between the two countries to improve before proposing his plan,” he adds.

Binod Kumar Paudel, Governance and Research Fellow at Inclusion Economics Nepal at GovLab, however, is of the view that there is no harm in asking, as Dahal had already done it in 2012 and 2016.

“India and China, the only bordering neighbors of Nepal, have progressed a lot. Nepal, on the other hand, is lagging far behind,” says Paudel. “A lot could be achieved if the three countries were to join hands for regional peace, stability, and growth.”

According to him, it was Bhasker Koirala, director of the Nepal Institute of International and Strategic Studies, who postulated the idea of cooperation between Nepal, India, and China in 2010, and Prime Minister Dahal was the one who presented it before Indian and Chinese leaders.

“We have to own the concept of trilateral cooperation because China and India are not going to treat Nepal on an equal footing in the China-India Plus plan,” says Paudel. “It is the responsibility of Prime Minister Dahal to clarify the doubts, if there are any, with China and India. He must formalize the trilateral cooperation with the two neighbors for the development and prosperity of Nepal.”

Himalayan linkages can bring prosperity to South and Central Asia: Dahal

It is noteworthy that China and India are seeking to strengthen infrastructure linkages with Nepal from different directions, and the Himalayan nation is the midpoint of infrastructure efforts by the two emerging giants in Asia, The Global Times reports.

 The Himalayan nation needs a big push in infrastructure investments to stimulate economic growth, while both China and India hope to bolster regional connectivity, the report says. If a cross-Himalayan economic corridor connecting the three economies can become a reality, it will benefit the regional economy as a whole.

Back in my first tenure as the Prime Minister of Nepal, I came up with the concept of trilateral cooperation between Nepal, China, and India. The sole aim of that trans-Himalayan cooperation is to pursue collaborative development projects, which can be beneficial for all three countries.

The prospect of trilateral cooperation has received positive responses from the leaders of the three countries. A few weeks ago in Goa, India, I got the chance to meet PM Modi Ji and President Xi Jinping in an informal setting; where I reiterated the necessity of trilateral cooperation.

And beyond the discourse of trilateral cooperation, there is a positive prospect for building broader trans-Himalayan cooperation. Cooperation, which will supplement, not supplant, the existing cooperation mechanisms—including SAARC, BIMSTEC, SCO, and other bilateral arrangements.

Cooperation will take various countries of the region on board; countries that are connected by their linkage to the Himalayas. In addition to China, Nepal, India, and various countries from South Asia in proximity can collaborate in a trans-Himalayan cooperation platform.

Such cooperation can link South Asia with Central Asia. This can open a plethora of opportunities for market expansion, job creation, and growth in trade.

The Himalayas can no more be considered barriers and obstacles. Instead, they can serve as important bridges that connect the two emerging regions of the Asian continent.

Most importantly, connectivity lies at the heart of trans-Himalayan cooperation. Given the unprecedented growth of technology and innovation, trans-Himalayan roadways and railways can no longer be confined to theory. Such infrastructure can be constructed within a few decades. Trans-Himalayan infrastructure will open up unprecedented opportunities for economic prosperity.

In the framework of broader trans-Himalayan cooperation, Nepal can serve as an important transit corridor. To realize that role for Nepal; indeed to resurrect that role of Nepal; we need to invest in infrastructure—build multilane highways and railways joining the economic giants of the north and the south.

A huge amount of capital needs to be injected to build such infrastructure. Countries of the trans-Himalayan area, especially India and China, can cooperate to invest in such projects of infrastructure buildups.

Statement delivered at the seminar on “Trans-Himalayan Cooperation beyond Trilateral Discourse” on November 9, 2016.