Pardafas Reporter
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A Home Secretary level security meeting between Nepal and China is being prepared. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to Nepal was followed by homework for a security meeting, officials said. According to a Foreign Ministry source, the Chinese side has proposed a meeting in the second week of April.
A secretarial meeting is to be held between the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security of China. Home Secretary Teknarayan Pandey will chair the meeting on behalf of Nepal.
According to the Home Ministry, discussions are underway with China to hold a secretary-level meeting. They said the exact date of the meeting could not be decided.
According to another official of the ministry, the formation of a Nepal-China Home Secretary level permanent mechanism will be discussed in the meeting. For some years now, China has been urging Nepal to set up a secretarial mechanism to discuss security issues. Though discussions were held between the two countries to sign a memorandum of understanding to form the mechanism, it could not be concluded.
Officials say that Nepal was not interested in signing the MoU when the then Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa Badal visited China in January 2020. Even after that, China has been urging Nepal for the MoU.
Nepal and China are preparing to discuss the implementation of the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Nepal in 2019 BS at a secretary-level meeting.
During the visit, China wanted to sign an extradition treaty with Nepal. But under US pressure, the then Oli-led government backtracked on signing the treaty. However, a joint statement issued after the two countries agreed to conclude the extradition treaty as soon as possible.
China has not raised the issue of extradition treaty since Xi's visit. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi did not discuss the issue during his recent visit, sources said.
China was unlikely to raise the issue of the extradition treaty at the upcoming secretary-level meeting with China.
The meeting will also discuss the exchange of information between the security agencies of Nepal and China and China's support for capacity building and training of Nepal's security agencies.
During President Xi's visit, China agreed to provide 100 different trainings to Nepal's security personnel by 2022. But officials say training is not possible in China because of the Corona pandemic.
Similarly, border management between Nepal and China will also be discussed in the upcoming secretary level meeting. During Chinese Foreign Minister Wang's visit to Nepal, it was agreed to monitor the border by a joint team in mutual consultation.
Six months ago, the government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba had sent a government team led by Home Ministry Joint Secretary Jayanarayan Acharya to Humla to conduct a field study to resolve the border issue with China.
