Jagdishor Panday
Washington DC, November
The USA officials asked Nepal to aware of Chinese project in the country. Jonathan E. Hillman, a Senior Fellow of Simon in Political Economy and Director of Reconnecting Asia Project said the Chinese projects are not viable in Nepal.
Speaking at the programme of ‘Amplifying the Indo-Pacific Strategy’ here in Washington DC with South Asian journalist including from Nepal, Hillman said Nepal citizen are given job with Chinese investment but there are not viable.
Nepal is a part of China’s 26 trillion dollars ambitious project Belt and Road Initiatives (BRI). Till now China has invested in 138 countries around the world.
“There will be no long-term benefit from the Chinese project,” he said, adding, there is no transparency on those project too. He also doubted on those projects’ qualities which were constructed by Chinese.
But he said the USA will never ask or directed other countries to work or not work with other countries. “We respect democracy and sovereignty of all the countries. They have their own choice what to do or what not to do,” he said.
He also gave the example of Sri Lanka and Pakistan’s project build by the Chinese.
Dr. Joshua T. White, Associate Professor of Practice of South Asia Studies said Nepal should stand them as an independent country. Mentioning the Nepal geo-location between big two giants India and China, he said Nepal should be aware of that. “The USA always wants Nepal should stand them self as the independent nation,” he said.
The USA official said the countries who are receiving aid from China should be aware. They said China is using ‘honey trap capital’.
They said prosperity comes from human capital, social capital, and good health. ‘But China use the different style to of investment. Where they enter as a commercial and infrastructural purpose in the countries and late enter into the politics and strategic part,” USA official said.
They asked South Asian countries including Nepal to aware of the Chinese model of ‘honey trap capital’. They said Sirlanka’s Hambantota port is the best example of ‘honey trap capital’. After Sirlanka can’t pay the money to China they took it as a lease for 99 years.