POWERPLAY DURING A PANDEMIC

The manner Nepal is rushing through by amending its constitution and redrawing its map should leave none in doubt that Nepal has willingly become a puppet in the hands of China.

The Chinese policy of late has been simple though condemnable. China, without any provocation, has started flexing its muscles and unsettle the world order. It all started with China getting militarily hyperactive in the South China Sea, which has caused concerns to Taiwan, Brunei, South Korea, Philippines and some other countries in the Far East and South East. It was followed by the Chinese troops entering into India in the Sikkim and East Ladakh sectors, Nepal getting a dream that some Indian territory near the India-nepal-china triangle actually belonged to it and now North Korea threatening war with South Korea. If anything, these show Beijing’s impatience to topple the US and become the biggest superpower on earth, giving enough credence to the Western murmurs that Coronavirus is actually a made in China virus unleashed to serve its ambitions. Indiachina border dispute is old. But it seems China wanted to teach India a lesson for its sins of labelling the Chinese COVID-19 testing kits as faulty and not filling up Beijing’s coffers by cancelling orders. Also, India joined the US and other western powers in demanding a probe into how Coronavirus spread and whether China purposely did not share initial information with others.

Pakistan has also become super active militarily speaking in POK. China, it seems, is trying to force India to divert its resources on borders so that India does not become an economic superpower. I feel sorry for the

Nepali people. Communist rulers for Nepal may benefit by opening a new front with India, but strained ties with India will make lives of common Nepali people more miserable. ..... SHUBHAM SINGH, GREATER NOIDA via email