Onlinekhabar talked to Professor Li Tao (PhD), Institute of South Asian Studies, Sichuan University, on the sidelines of the China Nepal Think Tank Conference in Kathmandu. Excerpts from the interview with the expert on South Asia:
China has made huge investments in Africa, America and Europe also. But not enough Chinese investment is coming to Nepal? Why is it so?
I want to answer this question in two aspects. Firstly, as far as I know, more and more Chinese companies have invested all over the world. You know, we are from Sichuan Province. Many businessmen, they invest, they open big or small companies to do business here. The other aspect that I want to talk about is infrastructure…. I do see that in Nepal, infrastructure is not that good. Political instability is also one of the reasons why we cannot push infrastructure projects forward.
Even other parts of the world are not that secure. There’s terrorism, there are other threats too. We think Nepal is at relative peace than many other countries in the world. You said infrastructure is poor in Nepal. But that is the area where we want Chinese investment, specifically…..
You know, most of the companies investing in infrastructure projects in Europe and Africa are from Eastern China, which is near the sea. Eastern parts of China developed earlier than its western parts. Western parts of China are linked with Nepal as well as other South Asian countries. (Companies based) in western China are focusing on investment in the South Asian area, whereas the companies based in Eastern China are focusing on investment in Europe and other parts of the world…. Eastern part of China is developed and the Western part is underdeveloped. So, that’s one reason…..
You mentioned China has lots of investment projects in Africa. If you compare a country in Africa that is about the same size as Nepal, I don’t think there’s a huge gap in Chinese investment. During my visit to Nepal last year, many Chinese businessmen were with me on the same plane. They were very interested in investing in Nepal. We are from Sichuan, investors from there are considering investing in hydropower projects in Nepal. The process will go ahead slowly.
You said Western China is underdeveloped compared to Eastern China. This means China will be investing more in Western parts in the future. Does it mean Nepal will also stand to benefit from this increase in investment?
I agree with you on that point. We believe and think that Nepal is an important window for us to push forward the One Belt One Road initiative. Among China’s provinces, as statistics show, Sichuan is the province with the highest GDP , it is the most developed province in China. Sichuan and Kathmandu, especially Chengdu and Kathmandu, are closely related. They are sister cities. I knew from the Sichuan government that they will provide special funding to Nepal.
During supply-related disruptions last year, we talked about importing oil from China. Then prime minister KP Oli signed some deals with Chinese government. What are the factors that are impeding the implementation of those deals? What is the Chinese perspective on this?
I really have no idea. I think there’s no problem with Chinese government. The Chinese government supports these deals.
