Book Review

Nepal's foreign policy and

its neighbours

Mega Bhattarai

Ace-IBS 6th semester

13th August, 2021
Introduction
I would like to thank my teacher Dr. Pramod Jaiswal, for giving me this opportunity to
review this wonderful and informative book, "Nepal's foreign policy and its neighbours." GB
released books by New Delhi publishers and distributors in 2016, entitled "Nepal's foreign policy
and its neighbours." The book consists of 258 pages of the 12 chapters by scholars such as Dr.
Pramod Jaiswal, Mr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava, Mr. Bawa Singh, Mr. Shabaz Hussain Shah, Mr.
Shahnawaz Mantoo, Mr. Bibek Khan, Mr. Simi Mehta, Mrs. Gunjan Singh, Mrs. Bhoj Raj Poudel,
Mr. Sangit Sarita Dwivedi at a price of 975 INR. Also editors of the book were Dr. Pramod
Jaiswal and Geeta Kochhar. The title of the book provides the reader with an accurate picture of

what to expect from the book content and gives the book up to a point in sections.

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Dr. Pramod Jaiswal explains in the first chapter, "Nepal's foreign and policy importance," how
the foreign policy that a nation pursues influences international politics and small States' role in
international politics as well as why tampers like Nepal face great challenges to balance
relations with both emerging powerful nations. He says that it is only natural for buffer countries
in their foreign policy to take account of their domestic interest and maintain the balance with
both neighbors.He also explains how Nepal's national interest dealt with territorial integrity,
stability and retaining sovereignty, and how it evolved with surrounding nations' concerns. He
also outlines the role played by geopolitics and international players to influence a nation's
external policy.

Vivek Kumar Srivastava's second chapter on "Nepal's Foreign Policy in the Identity Quest"
highlights Nepal's foreign policy endeavor to define South Asia's behavior and its particular
model to deal with India and China, referred to as "The quest for identity." In his view, a nation
must also have a well-designed foreign policy, explicit in its aims and not imprecise, to develop
its own character on a global platform. However, he also mentioned that Nepal's foreign-policy
treaty, which does not jeopardize the foreign interest of India, is a hurdle to Nepal becoming a
unique identity. He argues that Indian influence should be decreased without harming
relationships for Nepal to adopt an autonomous foreign policy.

In the third chapter, Bawa Singh and Shabaz Hussain Shah start with the tale of how Nepal is
closely linked with India on an economic and political level, "Nepal’s equidistant strategy for
India or China: exploring the shifting paradigm in the Post-Monarchical age." But Nepal took a
shift towards China, with India interfering in Nepal's political problems. The relationship with
China has been strengthening since then and India is losing momentum over Nepal. The
authors propose that Nepal should have no policy which favors one neighbor's interests and
discards the interests of other neighbours.They propose that the expansion of connections with
China might be beneficial, but that relations with India should not be costly.

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Shahnawaz Mantoo's fourth chapter is "Nepal's foreign and internal security problems." As the
paradigm shifts toward multi-polarity and interdependence, small countries such as Nepal
cannot isolate themselves from ongoing global changes and must therefore come up with a
means to adapt to these changes, which open the portal for threats to external safety where
regional authorities and global systems play a powerfully alarming part.He believes that a good
diplomacy and foreign policy can control the exterior danger while a sovereignty-free treating of
internal issues maintains the country in its entirety. After the enactment of the constitution, he
offers examples of economic blockade, civil conflict and the Madhesi revolt.

The fifth chapter "the jam between two blocks," writes Bibek Chand: an analysis of the influence
of Sino-Indian dynamics of electricity in Nepal." The economy of Nepal is essentially a
rehabilitation of the dynamics of Chinese-Indian rivalry. Nepal has been sandwiched by
geopolitical rivalry in its economic reforms as the bending of China or India to the national
interest threatens the other nation's leverage, and the economy of Nepal has to pay for it. The
leader of Nepal should thus develop policies that balance the connection positively between
these two blocks, so that both nations may benefit from the brighter side.

Simi Mehta's sixth chapter on "Economic ties with India and Nepal in the 21st century"
describes bilateral commerce which is very likely to develop with cooperation. It also states that
owing to the open border, non-bilancial commerce has expanded, hindering the capacity of
commercial policies to function as efficiently as feasible. India is a major trading partner for
Nepal, and India is Nepal's largest donor to FDI. Different projects in infrastructure and common
companies are also pipelines aimed at continuing to improve Nepal and India's commercial
relationship throughout the decades.

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The main and most important source of power in Nepal is hydropower. There have been
numerous connections between this energy potential. He notes in Ashay Abbhi's chapter on
"Hydroelectricity and Pipelines"; states breaking the Diplomatic Distance from India to Nepal via
Energy" that not only does Nepal rely on India for importation but also India depends on Nepal
for its energy demands, which provide Nepal a negotiation leverage. Different efforts to increase
bilateral energy trading are already underway. Indian technology and the financial muscle
necessary for energy derivation are ideal for complementing the untapped energy resources of
Nepal. The relation established by these deals, where the two parties win, goes a long way.

Geeta Kochhar and Soumya Awasthi's eight chapter "Race of Elephant and Dragon in Nepal"
describes how the battle between the next two giants has helped Nepal. Both nations attempt to
leverage their commercial relations, their economic support and other strategies over Nepal,
which have made Nepal an alternative to turn to the other country if one country is not
conducive. The author argued, however, that because of cultural interconnections and the
failure of China alone to meet Nepal's demands, the Indian side would be viable. They also
emphasize that Nepal, China, was previously intermediated with China, and that both nations
have some negotiating power, but are also liable to compromise such relations, if they wish to
influence such buffer states. There is also a comparison of India's and China's contributions in
several areas such as health, defence, education and transport.

Gunjan Singh says that the ties between Nepal and China are not just bilateral but are impacted
by the external interest of India and Tibet. "Nepal's current connection with China" he says. The
author discusses the openness of India's government measures while retaining China's national
interest in helping Nepal, which broke the Indian oil monopoly and a unique reliance on trade
and subsidies over India. The chapter highlights Chinese contributions after an earthquake and
support for economic and infrastructure growth. Nepal was converted into a Chinese stand by
an influx of FDI from China alone.

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Bhoj Raj Poudel's "Role of China and India in the economic growth of Nepal, post-1990" 10th
chapter suggests that, while attaining its national goal, Nepal should not play the one country
against the other. Either country wants the potential it possesses via hydropower and tourism to
aid and work alongside Nepal. Nepal has secured FDIs from both countries, however at times
their national interest may be different, and Nepal may need to take the card. Nepal's export
basket is restricted, reliable, and could not benefit from the rate of growth of its neighbours.

The 11th chapter of Biswas Baral's "Indian Economic Embargo: the Chinese Factor," examines
how economic embargoes have driven Nepal closer to and away from China. Instead of trying
to preserve its leverages in Nepal, the author suggests that Nepal could enable its economy to
flourish through agreements from a third party. The first embargo was owing to a link from
Araniko highway to Tibet, the other was due to King Birendra's purchase of anti-aircraft
weaponry from China and the third was because India thought that Nepal did not take into
consideration its constitutional interest and instead sided with the interests of China.

Sangit Sarita Dwivedi highlights the profound and vital relationships between the two counties in
the concluding chapter "Revising the India relationship with Nepal and the function of the
SAARC." India is Nepal's major commercial partner and India has several elements to deal with.
This allowed India to tweak Nepal's internal affairs to accomplish its national interest. Nepal was
afraid, and turned to China and India, but had a need to preserve their leverage. The Indian
PM's vision of SAARC objectives was presented with insights on how Member States could
promote it more effectively.

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Conclusion
A well-designed account of India's ties with China and Nepal, and how the national interest of
one country may affect others, is provided via the 12 chapters of the book. When I read the
book, I discovered that I had never dug so many fresh forms of concepts. This book gave me
what I was hoping to learn. Sequentially and rationally, the chapters are structured to give the
reader meaningful information. I was sometimes lost since some assertions were contradicting
amongst writers, but it was probably only a different way of thinking or of seeing.

I would certainly suggest this book to anybody who reads, since it describes the link between
the nations in depth but so simply: India, China and Nepal and also sends factual information on
the challenges and benefits of a buffer country like Nepal placed between the two giants of Asia.
I myself have introduced a new perspective of reflection on such large issues and introduced a
new element on international relations and the way it affects the life of our politics. The reason
why I would mention this book about another of its likes is because it is compact, simple and
makes the reader continue. The book is good for serving the claims of the title.