China on Tuesday sent a team of experts to Kathmandu to conduct a feasibility study of the Nepal-China cross-border railway line, a day after the new government was formed in the Himalayan nation.
On Monday, Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda," who is known to be close to China, was sworn in for the third time as the Prime Minister of Nepal.
“The expert team for the feasibility study and survey of China-Nepal Cross-Border Railway arrived on Tuesday and was welcomed by Charge d’affaires Wang Xin,” the Chinese Embassy said on Twitter.
“(It was) an important implementation of our leaders’ consensus and a solid step forward to turn Nepal from a landlocked country to a land-linked country,” the Chinese Embassy spokesperson tweeted.
Nepalese Parliament in February approved a contentious USD 500 million US government aid programme -- Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), despite domestic political divisions and objections from China.
China, which is in a tussle with the US for influence in the Himalayan nation, in a sharp reaction had said that Washington should not undermine the sovereignty of other countries through “coercive diplomacy”.
China is stepping up its forays into Nepal through various infrastructure ventures, including the trans-Himalayan connectivity projects, under Beijing's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative.
