Op-Ed: Ménage à trois with China – Can Nepal handle it?

I have some serious apprehension and grave concern about Maoists leaders desperately trying to get China as much involved as possible in Nepal’s political developments especially after the establishment of Republican Nepal. Given Nepal’s geopolitical setting and with India’s blatant and outright intervention in Nepali politics that has become more so common at present than in the past, Maoists trying to neutralize the Indian impact in Nepali politics by getting China involved seems a prudent choice politically at the first glance, but can we afford to get China so involved regarding Nepali politics without irking our southern neighbor seems to be the question that we need to ponder upon.

Even though Maoists supremo Prachanda is not the leader of the government at present but as the champion of the communist agenda in Nepal and as the leader of the Maoists party fighting for the civilian supremacy, he recently had a weeklong rendezvous with his counterparts in China where he also had a chance to visit the place where Chairman Mao was born. Even though the details of his discussions with the members of the Chinese Communist Party has not been completely disclosed or made public to the media, one can guess what blessings he must have gotten from his visit to China.

Southblock specialists on Nepali matters must be carefully watching and analyzing Prachanda’s visit to China and it is yet to be seen how it is going to react to Maoists’ increasing nexus with the Chinese. Even though south block is downplaying Prachanda’s recent visit to China by not commenting on it, it is well known to all of us how India gets worked up and cries foul on anything Nepal has to do with China. The fact that Nepal has much closer relations with India than with China has more to do with the geography of Nepal than with the cultural and traditional ties that both countries share because it is geography that defines most of the economy in our context.

If Nepal’s relationship with India is compared as a conjugal union, then it is not the one that is normal and mutually agreed-upon by any standard. In this analogy India very well fits the character of a drunkard control freak manipulative obsessive misogynistic husband that cannot see Nepal befriending with any of its neighbors, especially a giant, rich, powerful and masculine neighbor like China. India does not mind Nepal being friends with his other ‘conjugal partners’ such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, etc. All these other nations who are in similar situation to Nepal in terms of their relationship to India have one advantage over Nepal in that they have access to sea which in the above analogy is like those partners having their own place to stay and hence enjoy a little bit of freedom from their wife-beating bully husband.

In the same analogy Nepal’s situation is like of a very beautiful but brutally impoverished housewife whose all maternal gifts that she brought with her (I mean natural resources in Nepal) are in her freak husband’s control and therefore she has no other choice or alternative but to be suitably submissive to her bully husband and succumb to his morbid fantasies. Just like a husband who is afraid to lose his beautiful wife does not let her out to socialize with anyone, India shares similar complexes in terms of its relations with Nepal. Therefore it seems as if India has locked Nepal up in a small corner at the backdrop of his carefully guarded bungalow thereby limiting her access and freedom to any other neighbors and friends who she can cry for help in times of need.

Being tired and desperate with the brutalities that she has to endure from her husband, Nepal often seeks some help and some sympathy from her northern neighbor China. Prachanda’s recent visit to China can be taken into this context. Nepal’s northern neighbor who even though does not understand the language or the culture that Nepal has been brought-up into, likes to help Nepal every now and then but is also very likely to enjoy the troubles Nepal has with India since China and India as the next superpowers of the world, it is only natural for them to hate each other.

Since Nepal is like a beautiful lady who is young and pristine with loads of gifts she has been provided with, while taking any help from her northern neighbor, she has to be really very careful not to let her northern neighbor think that she wants to run away with him. Even though Nepal does not have any problems with her northern neighbor, it is a well known fact that her northern neighbor is also a big bully who is like India but only more powerful, stronger, and richer. It is also obvious to the outside world that Nepal’s northern neighbor has brutally tortured its conjugal partners (Tibet for example) in the past and has been controlling other partners (Taiwan ) even today with an iron fist, therefore any help from this neighbor cannot be taken without a grain of salt for bully’s intentions should never be completely trusted.

So Nepal on one hand has to free herself from her obsessive bipolar partner India and might need a help or two from her northern neighbor to be independent and completely free but while doing so she has to be really very careful not to flirt with the northern neighbor to such an extent that entices his own virile fantasies upon Nepal for he is a bully too. She also has to realize that flirting with her northern neighbor should be kept to a minimum because this neighbor is even bigger, stronger, powerful and worst of all he is uncomfortably situated at our ‘backend’. If Nepal does not handle her giant and powerful neighbors carefully and strategically she will be screwed up at both ends at the same time by these bullies which will be painful for Nepal beyond any conceivable imagination.

What Comrade Prachanda and other Nepali leaders should understand is that while the concept of Ménage à trois might seem a very exotic and sensational experience as in the case of United States enjoying with Canada and Mexico, getting screwed up at both ends simultaneously by giants like China and India would not be any fun to Nepal at all while it very likely will put her in a complete state of FUBAR.