On October 11, 2019, Sen Robert Menendez, D-NJ, wrote a letter to Nepal`s Prime Minister, PK Sharma Oli, in response to an information report on the possible signing of an extradition treaty saying, “I urge you to take further steps to complete such an agreement.” In June 2018, China and Nepal announced an agreement linking Xigazé, the Tibet Autonomous Region, to Kathmandu via a new rail link. [41] After the 2015 Indian blockade, the Nepalese government attempted to diversify trade and access to the sea via China. But five years later, inertia and disinterest in Kathmandu have paralyzed a series of bilateral agreements signed with its northern neighbour. “The tendency of Nepalese companies is to sign agreements without research or advance planning. It is only after the signatures that studies are carried out to see if they are feasible, which slows down implementation,” Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali told the Nepali Times. However, despite numerous statements by Kathmandu politicians in favour of diversifying Nepal`s trade and transit, there has not even been advance planning. At a meeting following the agreement on 13 October 2019, China declared itself ready to carry out an on-site assessment, while Nepal accepted environmental and legal approvals. Nothing has happened since. Of course, there is no shortage of agreements and there has never been any political will to implement them. Faced with years of interference, corruption and mismanagement, government authorities are simply not in a position to make progress in bilateral agreements. In 1955, Nepal renounced diplomatic relations with the People`s Republic of China, exchanged ambassadors until 1960. In 1956, the two nations signed a new treaty to end the Treaty of Thapathali of 1856 and Nepal recognized Tibet as part of China. [1] In 1960, Nepal and China signed an agreement on cross-border settlements and a “Sino-Nepal Treaty on Peace and Friendship.” [23] Nepal has also begun to support China`s change of headquarters at the United Nations.

[1] In 1961, Nepal and China agreed on the construction of an all-weather road linking Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital, to Tibet. However, during the Sinino-Indian War of 1962, although Nepal maintained neutrality, the Nepalese government secretly pledged to ask the Indian government to allow Indian troops to set up 18 border observation posts (BOPs) along the Sino-Nepal border. [1] After the war, the Indian army asked the Nepalese governments to withdraw from all but one border observation post. India maintains its military presence in the Kalapani region of India, which shares the border with Nepal. Since 1990, successive Nepalese governments have repeatedly called on India to withdraw Indian troops from the Kalapani region, with the war ending half a century ago.