Kathmandu, December 28
Guo Yezhou, a vice-minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China, has met top leaders of both factions of the Nepal Communist Party, which has been recently divided, on Sunday and Monday.
Observers believe this is the last round of Beijing’s efforts to save the party unity.
Guo met Pushpa Kamal Dahal, a chairman of the Nepal Communist Party’s Dahal-Nepal faction, on Monday morning.
Earlier on Sunday, the first day of his visit, Guo had called on Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, also the chairman of the other faction of the recently divided party. Likewise, Guo also paid a courtesy call on President Bidya Devi Bhandari who apparently has sympathies for the NCP’s Oli side.
In all these meetings, the Chinese guest and the NCP leaders in Kathmandu talked about recent political developments in Nepal including the dissolution of the House of Representatives and the subsequent division in the ruling party, it has been learned. No one, however, has divulged details of these meetings.
He is also scheduled to meet Madhav Kumar Nepal, another chairman of the NCP’s Dahal-Nepal faction.
Guo’s visit is happening at a time when people believe China had a role in unifying the then CPN-Maoist Centre and the CPN-UML in 2018 and hence it is not happy with the recent split.
In the wake of the division, Chinese Ambassador to Nepal, Hou Yanqi, has also expedited her political engagements with both factions of the split party.
The Guo-led delegation arrived in Kathmandu on Sunday is scheduled to return on Wednesday only.
