Reeling under the Indian blockade, people have been urging the government to bring petroleum products from China. On its part, the government has been turning a deaf ear to this demand. It has invited a global tender to ease supply of petroleum products in the short run. Nepal’s Ambassador to China, Mahesh Maskey, is not satisfied with the government’s complacence vis-à-vis the possibility of bringing oil from China. During a telephonic conversation with Online Khabar, Ambassador Maskey expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s ways, stating that Nepal has not taken any concrete initiative despite China’s pledge to provide every possible assistance to deal with this crisis.
“During my conversation with the Chinese side, they appeared positive about supplying oil,” Ambassador Maskey said. “But I have been finding it difficult to deal with them as the government has not issued clear directives.” Nothing has been done at the diplomatic level. The embassy (Nepal’s Embassy in China) had held talks with China after India imposed a blockade after constitution promulgation in Nepal. The talks centred on reopening quake-ravaged customs along the Nepal-China border. Chinese officials I talked to were very positive about this proposition. They pledged to clear sections of the road on their side and help Nepal provide all sorts of assistance for the resumption of trade through these points. On their side of the Kerung trade point, Chinese have already cleared landslide debris. They have shifted the Khasa market to Sigatse due to insecurity in the wake of the quake. In the existing situation, the Chinese side will have to keep employees in tents. They were waiting for the Nepali side to fix things so that they could move their employees back to Khasa. There will be no problem from their side in reopening the border point if Nepal fixes things. Offices have reopened here after closing for about a week (October 1-7). And they plan to reopen Kerung and Khasa points from October 10.
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