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NepalFOREIGN POLICY, NEPAL
A landlocked country, Nepal was sandwiched between two
giant
neighbors--China and India
(see
fig. 1;
The Land
, ch. 2).
To the
north, the Himalayas constituted a natural and mostly
impassible
frontier, and beyond that was the border with China. To
the south,
east, and west, Nepal was hemmed in by India. Without an
outlet to
the sea, Nepal was dependent on India for international
trade and
transit facilities.
During the British Raj (1858-1947), Nepal sought
geostrategic
isolation. This traditional isolationism partially was the
product
of the relative freedom the country enjoyed from external
intervention and domination. From the mid-nineteenth
century, when
Britain emerged as the unchallenged power in India and the
Qing
Dynasty (1644-1911) in China was in decline, Nepal made
accommodations with Britain on the best possible terms.
Without
surrendering autonomy on internal matters, Nepal received
guarantees of protection from Britain against external
aggression
and interference
(see Rana Rule
, ch. 1). London also
considered a
steady flow of Gurkha recruits from Nepal as vital to
support
Britain's security in India and its other colonial
territories.
In the 1950s, Nepal began a gradual opening up and a
commitment
to a policy of neutrality and nonalignment. At the 1973
summit of
the Nonaligned Movement in Algiers, King Birendra proposed
that
"Nepal, situated between two of the most populous
countries of the
world, wishes her frontiers to be declared a zone of
peace." In
Birendra's 1975 coronation address, he formally asked
other
countries to endorse his proposal. Since then, the concept
of Nepal
as a zone of peace has become a main theme of Kathmandu's
foreign
policy.
As of mid-1991, Nepal had been endorsed as a zone of
peace by
more than 110 nations. Many of these countries also
recommended a
regional approach to peace as the goal. Without the
endorsement of
India and the former Soviet Union, however, the prospect
of broader
international acceptance was dim.
At the beginning of the 1990s, Nepal had established
diplomatic
relations with approximately 100 countries. Nepal was an
active
member of the United Nations (UN) and participated in a
number of
its specialized agencies. Nepal also was a founding member
of the
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)
and had
successfully negotiated several bilateral and multilateral
economic, cultural, and technical assistance programs.
Because of
its geographical proximity to and historical links with
China and
India, Nepal's foreign policy was focused mainly on
maintaining
close and friendly relations with these two countries and
on
safeguarding its national security and independence.
Nepal's
relations with the United States, Europe, and the Soviet
Union
showed new signs of vitality in 1991.
Data as of September 1991
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