Extend Tibet railway line to Kathmandu, Nepal tells China

In a demand that may have strategic geopolitical implications for India, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has asked China to extend the Beijing-Lhasa railway line to Kathmandu.

"The economic ties between Nepal and China could be taken to a new height if the railway line that has reached up to Lhasa from mainland China could be extended up to Kathmandu, and economic infrastructure could be developed on the Himalayan transit points between Nepal and China,"Prime Minister Nepal noted.

The 1956 km long Qinghai-Tibet railway is a high altitude line that connects Xining in Qinghai to Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous region. This railway is the first to connect China proper with the remote Tibetan region.

Nepal is committed not to allow anti-China activity from its soil, the Prime Minister said. "I would like to assure our Chinese friends to become assured on behalf of Nepal that the Himalayan republic will not allow any anti-China activities on its soil," he said, inaugurating the Chinese cultural festival in Kathmandu on Saturday.

Nepal is fully committed to the One China policy and that the basis of Nepal-China relations is the Panchasheel or the five principle of peaceful coexistence, he said.

The Nepalese people cherish the generous and important cooperation that China has been providing Nepal, he pointed out and added that the present government wished to further expand and strengthen the bilateral relations between Nepal and China.

Prachanda leaves for Beijing talks

Kathmandu: Amid their determined bid to dislodge the CPN-UML led Nepalese government, Maoist chief Prachanda left for China on Sunday along with top party leaders for high-level political consultations.

Prachanda left for Beijing on a weeklong visit along with hardliner leader Mohan Vaidya, the party's foreign bureau chief Krishna Bahadur Mahara and his son Prakash Dahal at the invitation of the Communist Party of China.

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