A high-level visit from China before election, Chinese Speaker  Li Zhanshu arriving Nepal

A high-level visit to Nepal from China is about to take place when Nepal is on the brink of the election of the House of Representatives and the Provincial Assembly.

The chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China, the Chinese Speaker, Li Zhanshu is arriving for a three-day official visit to Nepal on September 12.

Li is visiting Nepal at the invitation of the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Nepal, Agni Sapkota.

On July 14, Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota sent an official invitation to Li via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Li is a close ally of Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

Similarly, He is a No. 3 member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the top decision-making body of China, after President Xi and Premier Li Keqiang.

After Chinese President Xi, Li is the next high-level leader of China to visit Nepal.

The Chinese leadership has been encouraging the Nepali communist leaders, particularly CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre), for forging an alliance for the elections.

Lately, China's top leaders have frequently been visiting Nepal.

In March, the State Councilor of China, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, visited Kathmandu and discussed a wide range of bilateral issues with the top political leadership.

In July, the Foreign Department Chief of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Liu Jianchao, arrived in Kathmandu and held talks with all major political stakeholders including communist party leaders.

In August, Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka visited Qingdao, China, and met with his counterpart, Wang.

The visit is taking place just ahead of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in October.

According to sources, Lee is scheduled to meet with Speaker Agni Sapkota, President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, and other top leaders of Nepal.