Professor Khadga KC (File Photo: Nepalkhabar)
Professor at the Department of International Relations and Diplomacy, Tribhuvan University, Dr. Khadga K.C has said that a new Cold War is in the offing.
Delivering a key note speech at a conference titled "The New Leadership of the CPC: The Influence on World Order" in Lalitpur on Thursday, Professor KC said that the United States appears to have entered a New Cold War with both China and Russia.
"Such hypocrisy suggests that it is at least partly global hegemony, not values, that is really at stake. Since the United States seems serious about confronting China in an extended contest for global supremacy, it had better start getting its own house in order," he said.
Dr KC said that the two big powers are coming up with several security and infrastructure initiatives to counter each other in global affairs.
"US Indo Pacific Strategy, Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, AUKUS (trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and changing national security of the US aiming to counterbalance and contain China in global affairs and China's Belt and Road Initiative Global Security Framework are the evidences of offing of the New Cold War," he said.
Dr KC highlighted key achievements made by China since Xi came to power back in 2013. "China has achieved moderate prosperity, the millennia-old dream of the Chinese nation, through persistent hard work. With this, China has elevated itself to a higher historical starting point in development," he said.
By galvanizing the entire nation to carry out targeted poverty alleviation, China won the largest battle against poverty in human history, KC observed.
"A total of 832 impoverished counties and close to 100 million poor rural residents have been lifted out of poverty, and, among them, more than 9.6 million poverty-stricken people have been relocated from inhospitable areas. China has, once and for all, resolved the problem of absolute poverty in China, making significant contributions to the cause of global poverty reduction, he said.
Talking about China's economic progress in the past decade, Dr KC said that the country's GDP has grown from 54 trillion yuan to 114 trillion yuan to account for 18.5 percent of the world economy, up 7.2 percentage points. "China has remained the world’s second largest economy, and its per capita GDP has risen from 39,800 yuan to 81,000 yuan. It ranks first in the world in terms of grain output, and it has ensured food and energy security for its more than 1.4 billion people," he said.
KC mentioned that the number of permanent urban residents has grown by 11.6 percentage points to account for 64.7 percent of the population.China’s manufacturing sector is the largest in the world, as are its foreign exchange reserves.
"China has built the world’s largest networks of high-speed railways and expressways and made major achievements in building airports, ports, and water conservancy, energy, information, and other infrastructure," he said. KC said that Chinese President Xi Jinping has used recently-held 20th
Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) to consolidate his power and to promote his ideological and nationalist objectives.
"It seems like that President Xi power bolstered by a Chinese Communist Party congress that last month extended his rule for another five years, Xi appears poised to recharge China’s diplomacy," he said.
Indifference towards BRI doesn't serve country's interests
KC said that Xi's re-election is also an opportunity for Nepal. However, it depends on Nepali leaders on how to reap benefit from China's economic might, he said.
"We can reap benefit from various initiatives including BRI pushed by Xi Jinping. For example, we can diversify our trade by enhancing railroad connectivity with China. At the same time, we need to enhance domestic production and export them to other countries including China," Dr KC said.
He said that Nepal's indifference towards the BRI doesn't serve the country's interests. "We signed up to the BRI in 2017 and later on selected nine development projects under it. However, we didn't work towards execute those nine projects," KC said. He said that an all-party consensus is essential for the smooth implementation of already-agreed projects under the BRI.
"There was consensus among major parties when became a party member to the BRI. Now, parties are divided. The current ruling dispensation looks indifferent towards executing projects under the BRI," he observed.
Dr KC said that Nepal's political parties should navigate the risks arising from an evolving and fraught geopolitical landscape.
On the occasion, Chairman of the National Assembly Ganesh Timalsina said that it is high time Nepali youths discussed the quality of Nepali leadership in the changed context. "Today, we are talking about CPC's fresh leadership in China. Let's also talk about our leadership and its qualities," he said.
The program chaired by Devendra Medhasi, a retired Nepal Army major general, was organized by Association for Social Transformation and Humanitarian Assistance (ASTHA) Nepal, a non-profit organization. Economists, foreign policy analysts and media persons attended the program.
