Serious negligence in dealing with foreign policy
The political parties in the government have totally failed in handling the foreign policy as well as the security strategy of the nation. The political leaders have been exposed since a letter written by the Chief of Army Staff to the American ambassador here regarding the exchange of cooperation between the Nepal Army and the US Army in 2015 was made public.
The letter was made public immediately after the American embassy deputy chief of mission informed at a press conference that Nepal had requested to join the State Partnership Programme (SPP), a military partnership project under the Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS), in 2015 and 2017. Hence, in 2019, the US government had accepted the Nepal government’s request, the American diplomat informed.
A big political jolt was witnessed in Kathmandu politics since the disclosure of the American embassy and the letter written by the Nepal Army to the American embassy. A blame game has started since disclosure of the serious diplomatic blunder, which is totally against Nepal’s foreign policy.
The Nepal Army had written a letter requesting the American government for a military cooperation under the instruction of the Nepal government, which is mentioned in the letter and the CC of the letter has been sent to the PMO and Defence Ministry. During the time when the Nepal Army wrote a letter, K.P. Oli had just assumed office as the PM and he was also looking after the defence portfolio. Oli had succeeded then prime minister Sushil Koirala, who was also looking after the defence portfolio. The first proposal was made by the NA perhaps under the instruction of the Sushil Koirala-led government. Now, Oli is blaming the NA for not informing the government about the letter, which we cannot believe. First of all, without the instruction of the government, the NA is not authorized to write such a letter. Secondly, when such a letter was sent, CC was also sent to the Defence Ministry and Foreign Ministry.
The other thing is that the NA is not the authorized organization to write a letter to a foreign country as a normal channel is to write a letter by the Foreign Ministry. By overlapping the role of the Foreign Ministry, the government has given orders to the NA to write such a letter. This is an example of a blunder in handling foreign affairs. We can assume that the political leaders have tried to make the NA a scapegoat in fulfilling their personal interests. Indeed, the political leaders are blaming each other to hide their real intention. If the leaders were sincere, they would have bluntly rejected such a proposal for a military alliance, which is aimed at Nepal’s neighbouring country. When the American government made public the Indo-Pacific Strategy and included Nepal in the club of the State Partnership Programma (SPP), the leaders attempted to shift the blame against each other. According to former PM Oli, his government had formed a task force and following the report of the task force, the government decided not to join the SPP but his government didn’t inform the US government about its decision. Presently too, PM Deuba has said that Nepal will not ink the SPP deal. Now, the recent meeting of the cabinet of ministers has decided to end the SPP chapter after a strong pressure from all sections. Commanding General of United States Army Pacific Command (USAPAC) Charles A. Flynn, during his visit
to Nepal, had put pressure on CoAS Gen Prabhuram Sharma and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to ink the SPP deal as early as possible.
Currently, Gen Sharma is on the way to pay a formal visit to the USA. He has, so far, expressed the commitment that he is not going to sign any deal with the US at the Pentagon. The Nepal Army, in fact, is not the authority to sign any deal with the foreign countries.
On the other hand, until the controversy surfaced, PM Deuba was in a mood to ink the SPA. He had planned to include the Defence Secretary in his proposed America visit and the deal was planned to be inked by the defence secretary on behalf of the Nepal government at Pentagon.
Still, the alliance partners in the government are suspicious of PM Deuba that he may sign the deal, which is against the nation’s constitution and foreign policy.
It is clear that SPP is a programme under the Indo-Pacific Strategy and if Nepal inks the deal, it will become the partner of the IPS, a military alliance, by scrapping Nepal’s outstanding foreign policy of non-alignment. The impact of such an agreement could be very serious and harmful as it is sure that China, Nepal’s northern neighbor will retaliate against the decision. Whether China is aware of the intention of our political leaders or not that all of them are running behind instant personal gains for themselves; the leaders are not concerned about the future of Nepal and the impact of their acts against the nation and its neighbouring countries! Always, all the leaders are repeating the same words, “one China policy” and Nepal’s soil not to be allowed to use against any of the neighbours. Whether such commitments have been transformed into reality, is subject to review.