A report published by the China Institute of International Studies in April 2017, stated that since Nepali Prime Minister K.P. Oli’s Beijing visit in March 2016, China and Nepal have accelerated cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and have strengthened interconnection through trade, transportation, and telecommunications. Significant progress has been achieved in the construction of key projects like the highway bridge over Karnali River at Hilsa of Pulan/Yari port, the Kathmandu Ring Road reconstruction project, and construction of three economic corridors, namely the Koshi Economic Corridor, Gandaki Economic Corridor, and Karnali Economic Corridor, among others. Meanwhile, China and Nepal have also signed a transit agreement under which both sides have agreed to increase the number of bilateral international road freight transport lines from the existing three to 12. Furthermore, the new road and rail transportation services connecting Guangdong, Tibet, and Nepal have been officially opened and goods are being transported to and from China along this route. Both sides are also exploring the possibility of a China-Nepal Free Trade Zone. The broader Chinese vision here is to tap the Indian economy through Nepal, as a direct land passage. As per the Chinese scheme of things, the “Trans-Himalaya Corridor” actually starts from Chengdu, Sichuan where the Sichuan-Tibet Highway, or the Sichuan-Tibet Railway, is meant to be further extended from Tibet to Kathmandu, Nepal, through Ya’an, Qamdo, Lhasa and Shigatse, and then to India where it will be connected to the Indian railway network — thus forming a large land passage between China and India across the Himalayas. China is hopeful that once completed, the Trans-Himalayan Grand Passage, together with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the Bangladesh-China-India-Burma Economic Corridor, will completely open up South Asia, connecting 10 countries on both sides of the Himalayas. This interconnection and intercommunication, the Chinese side believes, will release the potential of a true “Trans-Himalaya economic growth zone.”
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